Consistent Form Cheney Thrower Ashley Pardun Puts As Much Effort Into Her Sport As Academics

Ashley Pardun has this sports thing figured out.

School comes first.

Of course she’s hoping she can compete in college after she graduates next spring, but that won’t play a lead role in her quest to be an engineer.

“I’ve always told people school is more important than competing on a good track team, but I’d like to do both,” said Pardun, a junior at Cheney with a 3.9 grade-point average. “School is most important to me.”

The fact she wants to be an engineer should help convince track coaches they have a place for her.

Pardun throws the shot put and discus and puts her acumen for engineering to good use.

“She knows the events very well,” Blackhawks coach Maria Barnes said. “She’s technically smart. You don’t have to tell her a lot. When she lets a throw go, she knows. She’s been real consistent. It’s not like she just popped one out there.”

Two weeks ago she had her personal bests, 39-feet, 4-inches in the shot; 133-2 in the discus.

“They’re just stepping stones,” she said. “I want to PR (set a personal record) every meet.”

That wouldn’t surprise Barnes.

“She’s a very hard worker,” the coach said. “She’s the kind you wished you had 20 on your team. She’s really self-motivated. She likes the disc but the shot is starting to come along now. … Just (last week) in practice, she thought she figured out another little thing … she consistently hit 40 feet.”

It may not be every meet, but it sure seems like it, and Pardun is enjoying every minute of it.

There are four attributes of track and field that appeal to Pardun - individuality, team, camaraderie and competition.

She was disappointed two weeks ago at the Border League meet when discus leader Shannon Groh of West Valley wasn’t able to compete.

“I really wanted to compete against her,” Pardun said. “We’ve competed only once and it was horrible, it was raining. She pulled through, and I didn’t.”

They met again last week and that time Pardun pulled through with a throw of 138 feet, 10 inches. That put her 1 inch ahead of Groh’s best and into third in the state - No. 1 among 3A throwers.

Groh and Pardun renew the rivalry today and Friday at West Valley for the District 7 3A meet.

Pardun still enjoyed the Border meet because she saw some faces from Idaho.

“It’s a little scary at first, but it’s fun to meet new people you don’t get to compete against that often,” she said. “It’s also kind of cool to get to know other competitors.”

Beating the competition is important, but not the reason Pardun has been participating in track and field for years.

“Most people can be pretty good at something,” she said. “It’s individual. You can win a meet, but it’s about improving. I love it because it’s a measured thing. It’s a team thing but we have our individual marks.”

Barnes expects Pardun to continue to improve.

“I think she will get a lot better,” Barnes said. “She’ll get stronger. She’s just getting faster. She’s improved every meet this year.”

If she can do that in three more times, if she’s not the state champion, the state will have a darn good champion that beat Pardun.