TACOMA — Everett High senior throwers Malaki Seanoa and Bobby Rodgers faced more than the usual competition at the 2A, 3A and 4A state track and field meets Friday at Mount Tahoma High School.
Cold temperatures, rain and strong headwinds gusting to nearly 25 mph, kept Seanoa and Rodgers — both high seeds in the class 3A javelin and discus, respectively — from reaching their anticipated finishes.
Seanoa, the second seed in the javelin with a district-best throw of 195-feet, 4-inches, struggled to keep his throws from getting caught in wind gusts and said he may have let his head get to him again, similar to last year’s state meet when he placed seventh after Bellevue’s Robert Hintz surprised the field and set a meet record of 211-0.
“I’m not going to place all the blame on the weather. I just wasn’t feeling it today. I’m happy with placing, it’s better than going out last,” said Seanoa, who earned fifth place with a throw of 171-5 and is considering attending Washington State University while hoping to earn a spot on the track and field squad. “I probably could’ve prepared better than I did. I still feel happy with my performance. Again I got kind of nervous, I guess just sitting down at the hotel I kind of realized an hour away that this was going to be my last meet throwing so then I started worrying about it. Again, I psyched myself out, I probably shouldn’t have done that.”
It wasn’t for lack of effort that Seanoa, who claimed the top distance in 3A this season at 200-11, failed to reach a top spot in the event. On the last throw of his high school career, Seanoa unleashed a toss while his momentum sent him tumbling to the track. The extra effort wasn’t enough as the throw fell in the low 170-foot range.
“It wasn’t quite his day to get after it. He didn’t have the pop, I don’t know if it was the weather conditions or what,” Everett head coach Doug Hall said. “He still had a good season so it was nice to be able to watch him compete.”
Bellevue junior Tanner Lien, whose previous season-best throw was 180-6, took first in the 3A javelin with an impressive throw of 188-6.
Mother Nature didn’t hold down all area competitors as South Whidbey junior Will Hallberg took home first place in the class 2A triple jump with a distance of 46-7.5 feet. Hallberg, a third-seed who missed qualifying for state by 2 inches in the triple jump last year, set a personal record as well as a new South Whidbey school record in the event.
“I think my first (jump) in the prelims was better for me, but I did have a good jump in the finals … overall it was good,” said Hallberg, who was making his state meet debut. “That’s the third or fourth time that I’ve broken the school record.”
South Whidbey could see another first-place finish today as senior Jon Poolman qualified first in the 400 meters with a preliminary time of 49.89 seconds. Poolman also qualified third in the 100 in 11.64 seconds, good enough for second place in his heat.
Lakewood junior Andre Scott took fourth behind Hallberg with a distance of 43-8.25.
Earlier in the day, Seanoa’s Everett teammate Rodgers suffered a similarly disappointing fate during the discus event. A throw of 156-11 earned Rodgers his second straight fifth-place finish at the state meet.
“I could’ve done better,” said Rodgers, who was the second seed in the event with a district throw of 167-10. “ … Every good throw would flip over or the disc would go to the side, it was rough. I just tried to throw lower on my last three throws.”
Rodgers’ final throw ended up curving out-of-bounds.
“On my last throw I didn’t align myself in the back of the ring right, so if I lined up a couple inches to the left it could’ve been a good throw,” said Rodgers, who came to Mount Tahoma and practiced in the rain last week to get a feel for the throwing ring.
“Bobby has always been able to step up in big meets, but I think it wasn’t the competition that got to Bobby, it definitely was the elements,” Hall said. “The (winning) distances were smaller and I think a lot of guys could just muscle it out there so it took away from the guys who are a little more technical and that’s what Bobby is. That definitely was his downfall.”
Sumner senior Alex Griffith bested Prairie junior Jon Lawson by 3 inches with a winning throw of 163-9. Unfortunately for Everett’s throwers, forecasts call for slightly better weather conditions today with lighter winds and a smaller chance of precipitation.
In class 2A, Cedarcrest’s Kenny Bates placed third in the javelin final with a throw of 160-7 while Sultan’s Zach Beebe came in fifth place at 154-0. Blair Diamond of Lakewood took sixth place in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.47 seconds. Glacier Peak junior Jeff Bastian qualified eighth in the class 3A 800 at 1:57.46.
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