4A/3A/2A track and field: Will Foster of Prairie wins state title as 3A GSHL dominates shot put as state meet opens

TACOMA — How fitting, Prairie’s Will Foster and Mountain View’s Juan Pasillas-Stanton said, that the Class 3A boys shot put competition turned out like it did. 

As Class 3A’s top-two shot putters all season, the juniors finished what they started Thursday at the opening day of the 4A/3A/2A state track and field championships at Mount Tahoma High School.

Foster’s best throw of 59 feet, 7.75 inches — a new lifetime best — secured the state title. Pasillas-Stanton was right behind at 59-6 to take the runner-up. A fitting finish to a pair of competitors and friends who traded places all spring as the state’s leader across all classifications. 

“That’s the best way to end it,” Foster said. “When it’s that close, I feel like you both know it’s there and it’s whoever inches it out. … It’s perfect.”

After missing out on reaching state in the event in 2023, Foster now becomes Prairie’s first champion in the event since current throws coach Jon Lawson won consecutive titles in 2010 and 2011. 

“This feels amazing,” Foster said. “I just can’t believe it. … I’ve worked all summer for this. I’ve been thinking about it all year. It just feels unbelievable.”

In fact, the 3A Greater St. Helens League dominated in the ring Thursday. Prairie’s Wyatt Galipeau, a Clark College commit, had a more than 2-foot personal-best (55-8.25) to place fourth as part of a 1-2-4 podium finish. 

Foster and Pasillas-Stanton’s have grown as friends through track and field, but still are fierce competitors. They embraced one another following the competition. 

“We’re really good friends, but at the end of the day, it’s still a competition — we want to beat each other,” Pasillas-Stanton said. “… Will deserved to win today. I’m happy for him, and it was razor-thin (margin).”

The two entered Thursday’s competition separated by just three-quarters of an inch in the state rankings, and the razor-thin margin continued Thursday.  While Foster led the competition start to finish, the large crowd on hand had noticeable gasps and loud roars after Pasillas-Stanton’s fifth throw brought him to within 1.75 inches of Foster’s 59-7.75. His final attempt went 58-4.75 for his fourth legal throw of the competition 58 feet or better, but Pasillas-Stanton’s best throw broke Mountain View’s school record previously held by Ethan Tonder in 2017. Pasillas-Stanton credits Tonder for getting the junior into the sport. 

“To pass his all-time record, it’s a great feeling,” Pasillas-Stanton said. 

CAMAS’ LINERUD TAKES 4A DISCUS TITLE

Ethan Linerud saved his best for last — in his final weekend as a high school athlete. 

That best turned out to be not only a lifetime best and school-record discus throw of 172-7 Thursday, but also a Class 4A title in the event It’s the first time since 2002 that Camas has a boys discus state champion. 

“I went in with nothing to lose,” said Linerud, a Saint Martin’s signee, “do what I do and get a big throw.”

That big throw came on his first of six. It was a mark that even surprised Linerud since he said it didn’t feel like a good throw. That is, until the event official read the distance outloud. 

“I couldn’t believe it.”

Linerud, a fourth-place state placer in 2023, said it was only a matter of time before throwing a new personal-best. WHile he’s hit throws 160 or better four times this spring, he’d been waiting for a throw like Thursday for awhile. He broke the previous school record held by Landon Merrill, the 2002 state champion. 

“I just waited, and it happened,” Linerud said. 

VISUALIZATION KEY FOR MCMANUS’ IN 1,600

When Jacob McManus stepped to the track Thursday for the 2A boys 1,600 meters, the Columbia River junior’s took a different approach to the race than the last time he was in a state championship event. 

Thursday’s second-place finish to Anacortes’ Parker Mong (4:10.60) was the same 1-2 result from November’s 2A state cross country meet, where Mong edged McManus over 5,000 meters at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. 

This time, though, as a first-time state qualifier on the track, McManus’ visualization changed.

“This race was different,” McManus said. “I knew I could win, so I visualized myself winning,” McManus said, “and that mentality difference of knowing I can, put me in a place where I almost did it — way more than I did in cross country.”

As a member of River’s 4×400 relay team, McManus used his speed to close the gap on Mong with 150 meters to go. He was within a few steps of catching Mong when he crossed the finish line in a new personal-best time. He said Thursday’s performance sets him up well for Saturday’s 3,200 — where, again, he’ll face Mong. 

“It makes me know if I’m this close in the mile,” he said “… I know the 3,200 is my best chance. I’m going to go in with that confidence … Hopefully, it makes a difference.”

BEAVERS’ PODIUM POWER

Woodland, with five track and field state qualifiers, had three athletes reach the podium Thursday, led by Addy Siemer’s second-place finish in the 2A girls high jump (5-0). Hayden Clark (sixth, boys javelin) and Collett MacDonald (eighth, girls shot put) also reached the podium. 

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STATE TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Mount Tahoma High School