By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Dallas senior Liz Walker came through in the clutch down the stretch in the High Jump at the Titan Track Classic on Saturday afternoon.
Walker twice faced one last chance to clear a height, and succeeded in both attempts to eventually finish the event with a jump of 4-feet-11.75-inches. Good enough for second in the meet in the event. It was a challenge. But Walker had to mentally stay lock in and keep on competing.
The motivation has been there for her in the High Jump. It stems from last year where she was seeded to win the event, only to no height and end a promising season prematurely. It’s like a boulder she said, that pushes her forward and making sure she’s doing the little things right.
“It’s like a boulder behind me just pushing me forward, that’s not an outcome that anyone wants. But I think that was good for me to show that it’s not always going to turn out like that way that you want and this year, just focusing on the fundamentals and the stuff that’s hard,” Walker said.
“”It’s definitely hard, you just got to work through it on the last attempt and do run-throughs. You just have to turn off your mind and push through it,” Walker continues about those clutch jumps she had to get to her final mark. “My mindset and just things that I can control and not carrying things over to my other events and hopefully just working hard for my other events.”
It’s a work in progress for Dallas senior Israel Mabry when it comes to the Javelin.
The senior found himself speeding up when he needed to do the opposition and slow it down. And when he did do that, he was able to throw better and farther as he went on to finish fourth in the event.
It was good practice for him to pump the brakes, go back to the basics and just overall, work on his craft as he works towards consistency in the javelin.
“It helped me slow it down more and stick to more of the basics and not full into like I did at the start. When I went back to the basics and relax more, I just threw farther,” said Mabry. “I just need to keep working on that full approach and speed into that last step.”
The Dallas Girls Track and Field team won the Totan Track Classic Team Title with 104 team points.
Harlow Nelson won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. Amber Green won the 800-meter race. Kelsey Rodli finished (1,500) and Tanya Green (100-meter hurdles) finished third. Tanya Green finished second in the 300-meter Hurdles. The Dallas 4×100-meter relay team won their race. Jana Deming finished third in the Pole Vault.
Bertram Latta won the Discus throw.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
