PASCO — Experience? Ha! Who needs it?
Certainly not Brandon Myers, who grabbed a high finish May 31 at Star Track XXI at Edgar Brown Stadium.
The Jackson senior had never competed in the 110-meter high hurdles before this season, yet that didn’t stop him from a third-place finish in last week’s Class 4A finals.
Myers can thank his results, in part, to his senior project, which was on the fine points of hurdling. He’d never tried the hurdles, although he is an excellent all-around athlete and wants to compete in the decathlon in the coming years.
Hey, a guy’s got to have a taste.
“I had to spend 25 hours on the project,” Myers said. “I probably spent 30, at least, during the season — I’m shocked to get third. My goal was the top three.”
Myers had to learn how to hurdle in order to do the decathlon, and his last year in high school seemed the right time. At first, Jackson coach Eric Hruschka was against it because Myers already competed in all the jumps and most of the sprints.
“He said, ‘No, not another one,’” Myers said.
In the end, however, Hruschka was persuaded. Myers knew he had the speed to compete, but he had to go through a crash course in proper technique.
Complicating things were a bevy of nagging injuries, including a sore back from a car accident at the beginning of track season. Then, too, Myers’ other duties as a sprinter and jumper interfered with the full concentration he may have wished for in his hurdling technique.
“I was spread pretty thin all season,” he said.
At state, Myers was disappointed in his shaky preliminary heat, in which he barely finished fourth to qualify. In the finals, however, he exploded out of the blocks, got the best start of the eight competitors and was first halfway through.
But Myers’ trail-leg knee hit a hurdle — the first time he’s ever done that, Myers said — and fell back momentarily. But he kept his head, used his speed, regrouped on his technique and took third in 15.14 seconds.
“It means I’m doing something right,” Myers said of the bump. “It means I’m getting low.”
Other area individuals also came away with medals, although no boys teams were in contention for a title.
Edmonds-Woodway was sixth in the 1,600 relay. Jackson finished fourth in the 400 relay (42.89).
Jackson’s Thomas Sparks took third in the javelin. Teammate Caleb Knox finished 10th in the 1,600 and was 14th in the 3,200.
John Sleeper is a writer for The Herald in Everett.
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