Camas senior Matt Williams knows his sports career is winding down. He hopes to not let it without some state track hardware.
After a grueling junior year of battling a partially torn groin, Williams is staring down a 4A state title in the javelin. After throwing 182 feet, 8.5 inches to win the event in Tuesday’s dual meet at Union, he feels optimistic about his chances.
“The javelin is like a piece of a puzzle,” Williams said. “You start to get the block down, then you get the throw down and it eventually all comes together at the end.”
A competitor at heart, Williams conquers his puzzle while going toe to toe with his stiffest foes. On Tuesday, he had one of his toughest tests of the year in Union senior Jackson Saylor.
Saylor is eyeing a mark of his own: his brother Mitch’s school-record 188-foot throw. Saylor threw 180-10 on Tuesday, a personal-best of more than four feet.
“We respect each other a lot when it comes to the javelin,” Saylor said of the relationship with Williams. “We are always trying to encourage one another to throw farther. But there’s always that moment when you’re like ‘OK, now I need to throw farther than him to win this competition.’ It drives me a lot.”
For a few moments on Tuesday, Williams and Saylor held the top two marks in 4A. Across the county, Battle Ground’s Trent Thompson snuck into the conversation with a heave of 182-7, making it three 4A GSHL throwers taking up 4A’s top three ranks.
That’s not a bad thing for the competition-hungry athletes.
“It can be nailbiting,” Williams said. “But I love it. Everyone is just like one after the other, foot by foot going past each other. It makes you throw better.”
Williams has returned to the basics this season after his injury-plagued 2018. Halfway through last season he partially tore his groin, and didn’t eclipse 170 feet again after throwing 171-1 in the opening meet. He finished the year in eighth at the state meet.
He’s had a more tempered approach this season.
“I’m pacing myself and trying to peak at the right time,” he said. “I’m just adding more steps and going a little faster every week, throwing a bit harder every week. It’s all about keeping me conditioned and healthy.”
He still hasn’t integrated a full approach, and relied on a seven-step to record his personal best Tuesday.
With Thompson surpassing him and Saylor breathing down his neck, it only serves as motivation for the senior.
Concluded Williams: “Nothing makes an athlete better than competition.”
