TACOMA — Before he even heaved a throw that officially counted, Timothy St. Marie got in his opponents’ heads.
Seeded eighth going into the boys shot put event on Thursday at the Class 4A state track and field meet, the Cascade High School senior wasn’t necessarily expected to earn a spot on the awards podium. But St. Marie made a major statement in warmups by launching a practice throw an estimated 58 feet.
It stunned other throwers and set the tone for St. Marie’s outstanding afternoon at Mount Tahoma Stadium.
“They looked a little scared,” St. Marie said. “I talked to a couple of them and they were like, ‘Where did that come from?’”
It’s just the latest step in St. Marie’s late-season surge. Defying the rankings, St. Marie placed third in the 4A shot put with a top throw of 55 feet, 81/2 inches — not as good as his mammoth warmup effort, but still impressive. In addition to being St. Marie’s personal record, the third-place-winning toss is the second-best throw in Cascade history.
It was a matter of fine-tuning St. Marie’s technique, Cascade throws coach Al Mecum said.
“We’ve been working really hard on him getting across the ring a little bit faster,” Mecum said, “and really pulling his legs underneath him and really driving completely through the shot.”
St. Marie did exactly that during his epic warmup throw and continued to do it in the competition.
“He stepped in with some guys who had impressive numbers and he stepped up to them,” Cascade head track coach Chris Crockett said.
Mead’s Sam Wright (56-103/4) and Tahoma’s Derek Eager (56-13/4). Coming into the meet, Eager and Wright had the best 4A puts of the season: 58-61/4 and 58-2, respectively.
Today St. Marie will compete in his other event, the discus. He is seeded fifth; Eager and Wright, once again, are the favorites.
St. Marie, a 292-pound senior, plans to play college football at Oklahoma Panhandle State University, an NCAA Division-II program. But coach Crockett hopes that St. Marie, a three-sport prep athlete who also went to state for wrestling, doesn’t give up on throwing.
“Let’s keep the positive hopes that he picks it up again,” said Crockett, “because he does have a future in the shot put and the discus. I know he’s a football player and he’s a great athlete, but this is his realm; this is his world.”
The 2A and 3A boys state track meets also began on Thursday at Mount Tahoma Stadium. Top local finishers in Day-1 event finals included:
n Lakewood’s Andre Scott and South Whidbey’s Will Hallberg, who placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 2A long jump. Scott’s best jump (21-83/4) was 13/4 inches better than his Cascade Conference rival’s best effort.
n Archbishop Murphy’s Conner Ballew, who took sixth place in the 2A 3,200 in 9:32.33.
4A results
3200 Run — Shane Moskowitz, Central Kitsap, 8:59.27. Andrew Garnder, Mead, 9:01.40. 3, Anthony Armstrong, Kamiakin, 9:07.25. 4, Conner Peloquin, Gig Harbor, 9:08.14. 5, Adam Thorne, Ferris, 9:08.31. 6, Bryan Simonson, Eisenhower, 9:12.73. 7, Mitchell Briggs, Jackson, 9:14.10. 8, Chase Braxmeyer, Thomas Jefferson, 9:18.96.
Shot put — 1, Sam Wright, Mead, 56-10 ¾. 2, Derek Eager, Tahoma, 56-01 ¾. 3, Timothy St. Marie, Cascade (Everett), 55-08 ½. 4. Kjelby Oiland, Ferris, 55-06 ½. 5, Danny Shelton, Auburn, 55-01. 6, Maxx Forde, Woodinville, 54-08 ½. 7, Daniel Hughes, Chiawana, 53-05. 8, Billy Rowell, Central Valley, 53-03 ½.
3A results
3200 Run — 1, Ben Johnston, North Central, 8:58.68. 2, Drew O’Donoghue-McDonald, Seattle Prep, 8:58.80. 3, Allan Schroeder, Mount Spokane, 9:06.80. 4, Steven Robinson, Bishop Blanchet, 9:14.32. 5, Kyle Boe, Columbia River, 9:14.36. 6, Chris Borg, Peninsula, 9:14.36. 7, Lee George, Ferndale, 9:14.82. 8, Trevor Thompson, Lindbergh, 9:15.53.
Pole Vault — 1, Blake Bier, Prairie, 14-06. 2, Tyler Wilson, Shadle Park, 14-06. 3, Kevin Johnson, Sumner, 14-00. 4, Jason Jones, Camas, 13-06. 5, Kyle Martin, Hazen, 13-06. 6, Austin Shirey, White River, 13-00. 7 (tie), Gunnar Christensen, Capital, Scott Wurst, Mount Spokane, 13-00.
2A results
3200 Run — 1, Todd Jackson, Elma, 9:20.95. 2, Connor Williams, Mount Baker, 9:27.32. 3, Connor Whan, Burlington-Edison, 9:28.21. 4, Danny Gibson, Squalicum, 9:29.11. 5, Dylan Croeni, Washougal, 9:29.59. 6, Conner Ballew, Archbishop Murphy, 9;32.33. 7, Nate Starr, Mark Morris, 9:33.35. 8, Patrick Gibson, Squalicum, 9:35.15.
Long Jump — 1, Thomas Kassa, Anacortes, 22-10. 2 (tie), Ben Ternan, W.F. West, Tyrone Prescod, Ephrata, 21-11. 4, DeAngelo Jones, Cheney, 21-08 ¾. 5, Andre Scott, Lakewood, 21-08 ¾. 6, Will Hallberg, South Whidbey, 21-07. 7, Trent Alsin, Black Hills, 21-04. 8, Joel King, River Ridge, 21-01
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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