He’s a Cougar-to-be

It’s difficult to have a conversation with Andy Roof without mentioning football, but the soon-to-be East Valley graduate is used to that.

“When people talk to me, that’s the first thing that usually comes up: Washington State or football,” Roof said with a laugh.

One of the state’s top linemen, Roof declared early that he would play his college football halfway between the homes of his immediate family and his nearest relatives, who live in Clarkston.

“It’s about the same distance either way, so it works out pretty well,” he said.

It’s been different distances that have occupied Roof’s mind this spring.

Roof qualified for his third-straight state track meet in both the shot put and discus, earning a third-place finish in the latter to cap his high school career.

“There was a little pressure there,” Roof said. “Last year at state we all knew (Central Valley’s) Craig Kent was going to win it. This year it was pretty much open. There were four or five guys there who could uncork a throw and win it. There was more pressure because I was one of those guys who could win.”

It didn’t work out that way.

“Track season ended up being a real disappointment,” he said. “I threw pretty well and won District and Regionals. I threw 58 feet, 8 inches at regionals (in the shot put) and 174 in the discus. But I got to state and pretty well coughed it up.”

Roof fouled out in the shot put without posting a legal throw, and his best mark in the discus was 10 feet shy of the one that won the Regional meet a week earlier.

“I didn’t even have a mark in the shot and that was pretty disappointing,” he said. “Then I threw 164 in the discus. Granted, there was a pretty bad wind, but 164 feet, that’s inexcusable.”

Roof finished third in the discus by less than two feet, and matching his personal best would only have moved him up one step on the awards platform.

Equaling his regional performance in the shot put would have garnered him a second-place.

Inglemoor’s Nate Rolfe won both events – going 190-2 in the discus and 59-2 1/2 in the shot.

“We knew he was the one to beat,” Roof said. “He’d gone 206 feet in the discus, so we figured he was going to win it. But we didn’t think he was as good in the shot. He’s a spinner and he was just awesome.”

Roof enjoys the throws and would welcome an opportunity to continue in college. Especially when they complement football.

“I’ve never been a very good technician with the shot put,” he admitted. “I’ve more or less gone up and tossed one every once in a while and got a big one.

“But if you get mad throwing the discus, you’re done. There’s so much to the discus technically. Your feet have to be in the right place, your moves have to be fluid. I think that is much more like football. You have to calm down to throw the discus; if you lose your cool and snap in football, you’re no good to the team.”

Now that the state track meet is history, Roof will turn his attention back to football. After graduation he plans to spend a week in Seattle with his father. After that, he will begin workouts in Everett for the East-West All-Star Game.

“I still need to talk to one of the coaches at Washington State to find out what they want me working on and what I have to do over the summer,” he said.

Being a standout hometown football player moving on to play for the standout hometown college football team has been an attention-getter, Roof admitted. But he is happy to be a Cougar.

“I knew when it all started where I wanted to go, so before I even started to get offers I had things narrowed down to Oregon and Washington State,” he said. “I didn’t want to go any farther away than that. I went down to Oregon and looked at their campus, I went down to Washington State and I went to the University of Washington. But Washington State is just where I want to be. They have a great coaching staff and a solid program.”