TACOMA — Jon Lawson threw the discus 1,959 inches Friday. He would have liked to have thrown it 3 inches more.
Lawson recorded a mark of 163 feet, 6 inches, finishing second in the event at the Class 3A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma High School. Alex Griffith of Sumner won the event with a distance of 163-9.
“I’m happy, but I lost by 3 inches,” said Lawson, a junior from Prairie High School.
Lawson entered the last of the six rounds of throws in third place. That’s when he unleashed his best effort of the day, as all of the competitors battled high winds and driving rain.
“Usually I do bad in the rain,” he said. “It was hard to grip the disc. But I really just kind of stepped it up.
“I just was happy that I got here; I wanted to finish in the top three.”
Mission accomplished, as Lawson moved closer to an elusive state championship.
Last year, he finished fourth in the discus and sixth in the shot put at the state meet. He did, however, win the state hammer throwing competition, an event that is not sanctioned by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
The key to being successful in the throwing events?
“It’s not necessarily strength,” he said. “Just practice and determination.”
In other boys results from the Class 2A, 3A, and 4A meets:
• William Davis of Woodland finished third in the 2A 110 hurdles.
“At the beginning, I felt great,” he said. “I just got the heebie-jeebies and hit a couple hurdles at the end.”
Davis finished in 15.52 seconds, while Logan Packard of Mt. Baker won in 15..09.
“I’m proud,” Davis said. “This is more than I ever expected to do this season.”
• Mikey Lauritzen of Camas recorded a pair of fourth-place finishes within about 45 minutes of each other — in the javelin and the 110 hurdles. He threw 172-1 in the javelin and ran the hurdles in 15.52.
• Matthew Lloyd of Camas was two spots behind Lawson in the 3A discus, finishing fourth with a mark of 159-11.
• Kinsley Ojukwu of Union, who two weeks ago barely advanced out of the district meet, recorded the best time in the Class 3A 100-meter preliminaries.
Ojukwu finished in 11.32 seconds while running into a strong head wind. Markeem Adams of West Seattle had the second-best time at 11.41.
At the district meet, Ojukwu suffered from a hamstring injury and finished last in the 100. When a timing malfunction caused the race to be rerun two days later, he finished fourth with a heavily wrapped leg.
Friday, he said the hamstring is still bothering him.
“It still hurts,” he said following his heat. “I almost pulled it right now.”
• Union also advanced in the 400 relay, recording the second-best qualifying time.
• Skyview senior Chase Horrocks, who also is entered in Saturday’s 1,600, just missed advancing out of the preliminaries in the 800.
“I felt good; I should have taken it over a little more the last 300 meters,” he said. “I think I could have held my kick.”
Horrocks had the ninth-best qualifying time at 1:56.49. He finished .14 seconds out of eighth, which would have sent him to the final.
• All of Friday’s pole vault competitions were scratched because of weather concerns. The 2A boys pole vault and the 2A girls pole vault will be contested Saturday at Pacific Lutheran University. Three competitions are scheduled to be contested at Mount Tahoma.
