Normally, when The Columbian decides to do a feature on an outstanding high school athlete, we try to back away from that athlete after the story is published so we can shine a spotlight on others.
Heritage track and field athlete Sean Keller is making that hard to do.
Keller was the subject of our boys track and field preview feature last week after posting a state-leading mark in the javelin of 206 feet, 5 inches.
Keller said in the piece that his goal was to throw in the 220s. We assumed that meant by the end of the season, not by the end of the day when the story was published.
But that’s what Keller did.
The story on Keller was published Wednesday. That afternoon, Keller set a new personal best with a mark of 224-1 in Class 4A Greater St. Helens League dual meet against Evergreen.
Just to show that mark was not a fluke, at the Aloha Relays Saturday in Beaverton, Ore., Keller won the javelin with a mark of 222-3. Keller won the event by 49 feet.
Let’s put this into perspective.
In 1986, the international governing body for track and field adopted a new javelin that led to a travel reduction of about 10 percent from the previous model.
Since then, the Washington state meet record for the boys javelin for all classifications is 211-10. With the previous model, the state meet record for all classifications was 233-8. The national high school record for the javelin is 241-11.
So, I guess the next question for Keller is: What’s your goal now?
How much farther can he throw the javelin this season? The district meet is still more than three weeks away. The state meet is more than five weeks away. What happens when the weather actually gets better and Keller is not throwing in cool, wet and windy conditions?
And, oh yeah, one other thing.
Keller is just a junior.
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Keller isn’t the only Clark County athlete to post a state-best mark this season in all classifications, according to athletic.net.
Prairie’s Jon Lawson continues to lead the state in the discus with his mark of 181-2. Prairie’s Kristina Owsinski has the best mark among girls pole vaulters at 12-7. Clark County rules the 400 meters with Camas’ Megan Kelley best among the girls at 57.34 seconds, and Skyview’s Brad Michael leading the boys at 49.44.
And Skyview rules the 1,600 meter relay. You may ask, boys or girls? How about both. The Storm boys team of Michael, Elliot Willis, Kevin Boyd, and Oliver Tamis lead at 3:26.40. The Skyview girls team of Madison Lanford, Rachel Shirley, Priscilla Timmons and Rachel McQuivey lead at 4:04.94.
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Finally, it appears as if we might get some good weather this week.
In fact, the weather looks so good, I’d say it’s perfect for a round of golf or two.
Well, that fits the prep schedule just fine as this week’s schedule includes two premier events.
Today at Tri-Mountain Golf Course in Ridgefield, four local teams will compete in the Titan Cup, a Ryder Cup-style match play competition featuring Mountain View, Union, Columbia River and Skyview.
The front nine will be singles between Mountain View and Union and Columbia River vs. Skyview. The winners will play on the back nine in an alternate-shot format.
All four teams in the Titan Cup placed in the top five in last week’s Chieftain Invitational, and the event also will include 14 of the top 25 placers at Chieftain Invitational.
And if that’s not enough for you, just about every area golf team is scheduled to play in the Prairie Invitational on Thursday at The Cedars on Salmon Creek.
At last week’s Chieftain Invite at Lewis River Golf Course, former Prairie golfer Mary-Grace Jenks, now playing for Mark Morris, won with a score of 81.
Columbia River sophomore Chloe Bartek was second with an 84, followed by Prairie’s Maddy Ward (86), R.A. Long’s Kamri Tapani (88) and Union’s Belex Cheng (89).
Tim Martinez is the assistant sprots editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached at (360) 735-4538 or email at tim.martinez@columbian.com
