Nick Johnson defends State 4A title in 110-meter hurdles

TACOMA – Nick Johnson never led until he leaned at the finish line.

That’s how close the Gonzaga Prep senior came to not defending his State 4A championship in the 110-meter hurdles Friday during the second of three days of Star Track XXXIV at Mount Tahoma High School.

Johnson hit all the hurdles on his way to clocking 14.05 seconds, edging Tanner Conner of Kentridge by four hundredths of a second.

Conner, who finished second to Johnson last year, had about a 3-meter lead as they approached the third to last hurdle.

Moments after Johnson crossed the finish line, he had his hands around the back of his head. He appeared perplexed and thought he had lost.

“He had me the whole race,” Johnson said. “I had a bad start and hit every single hurdle. My leg didn’t come down fast. It was sloppy. I just drove in between the hurdles.”

Johnson had to grind between hurdles to make up the gap on Conner.

“I knew I was behind and I knew if I was going to win I had to get it in-between the hurdles,” Johnson said.

Johnson looked out of the corner of his eye as he leaned at the end.

“When I put my head across, I looked a little to my right and it looked like I had him by an inch or so,” Johnson said. “Man I’ve got to give this all to God. That was big.”

It wasn’t the time Johnson wanted but the race was into a headwind.

Johnson knew Conner was coming for him.

“I knew he really wanted it after last year,” Johnson said. “I knew it was going to be a tough race because a lot of people were gunning for me.”

Ben Craig of Central Valley took third (14.77).

Johnson had the third-fastest time in the 300 prelims (38.85). Conner had the fastest (37.98).

Considering the injury difficulties Anna Rodgers of Lewis and Clark had to deal with this spring, she finished the year well in the long jump Friday.

Rodgers missed about three weeks because of plantar fasciitis, but truth is she missed more than that in terms of training and being able to go all out in meets.

She took second in the long jump, going a season best 18 feet, 9 inches on her last jump. She also finished second last year (17-11 ¾).

“I just had too short of a season to get everything together,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers wanted to exceed her personal best from last year (19-1). All in all she had no complaints.

“It’s OK. I’m happy with the jump,” Rodgers said. “I just needed a few more meets, a few more jumps.”

Rodgers plans to get healthy and not over train in the winter as she did this year.

“I need to cut down on the training a lot,” she said. “My first priority is to get healthy and go from there.”

For a second straight day, Kirk Unland of Ferris picked up a third-place medal. And for a second straight day he finished with a personal best.

Unland threw 167-7 in the discus Friday.

“I’m pretty happy overall,” Unland said. “My last throws were (personal bests) so I’ll take it.”

Unland is heavily favored to win a hammer state title. The event will be held Sunday.

Kaleb Taylor of G-Prep took second in the pole vault (14-9).

3A: Jacob Barnes of Mt. Spokane didn’t reach his goal of 200 feet in the javelin, but the joy of winning a state championship is more than enough.

Barnes reached 187-7 on his second throw in the prelims and won by a foot. He was third at state last year.

“There’s no other feeling like it,” Barnes said of winning a title.

Barnes will continue throwing at BYU.

He thought eclipsing 200 would happen after he threw 199-7 in a season-opening meet. His overall best, 199-9, came at district last year.

“Throwing is a grind,” Barnes said. “You have to keep working at it.”

Mt. Spokane sophomore Jacob White took second in the long jump with a leap of 23-7 ¼. It was a personal best by 17 ½ inches.

The winner, Tyson Penn of Bellevue, set a classification record (24-1 ¼), breaking the previous mark (23-10 ¾) set in 2005 by Rashad Toussaint of West Valley.

2A: Rylie Pease of Cheney dropped to third in the javelin after taking second last year.

Pease, a junior, led most of the way after throwing 121-5 on her first throw. But she was overtaken by 10 inches on the last throws by a competitor who was eighth going into the finals.

For Pease, her throw was 17 feet short of her season best (138-9).

She was emotional afterward.

“I honestly don’t know what happened,” Pease said. “I’m pretty devastated. I honestly didn’t have any good throws. I have no excuse. I wasn’t hurt or injured.”

Pease’s placing wasn’t the reason she was disappointed.

“It’s not that I didn’t win. It’s that I threw the worst that I threw all year,” Pease said. “I want to learn from this and go into next year better prepared.”

The West Valley boys 400 relay team broke a school record in the prelims.

Caleb Simpson, Jake Jordan, Tevin Duke and Zechariah Herford combined to run 42.05, surpassing the record (42.40) set last year at state.

The Eagles said they want to break it again Saturday.