FAIRFAX — Erin Jones figured she had nothing to lose. She had already made the finals of the girls’ shot put. So the Hylton senior went into the last round intent on putting an all-out effort into her throw and hope for the best.
She did not win the shot put. But she has the first all-state finish of her prep career after placing fifth with a throw of 36-feet, 7-inches on the first day of the Group AAA state track and field meet held at George Mason University.
“You’re already in the final, so the only thing you can think is let it all go, let it all out,” Jones said. “Mainly I want to have fun. I don’t like stressing myself out. It makes it a lot harder. But I just want to do the best I can do. I know that’s all I can do.”
Jones improved on her throw of 35-9 in Tuesday’s Northwest Region meet. She hopes to build on that finish for the outdoor track season.
“That was my goal for indoor. Hopefully it gets even better for outdoor,” Jones said.
Another local athlete will be looking for his first all-state finish as the meet concludes today. Os-bourn Park junior Paul DeVito qualified for the finals of the 55-meter hurdles by running the event in 7.75 seconds in Friday’s semifinals.
He runs in the championship heat today.
“Hopefully I can get a PR [personal record] if I get out and do what I need to do,” DeVito said.
Potomac’s Pearl Bickersteth placed fifth in the girls’ high jump with a leap of 5-feet, 4-inches.
Potomac’s Wesley Jones finished 10th in the long jump by jumping 22-03.25. Battlefield senior Rex Parker was 13th in the event with a jump of 22-00.50.
Osbourn Park finished sixth in the girls’ 3,200-meter relay in 9 minutes and 35.08 seconds, five spots ahead of Gar-Field, whose team’s time was 9:42.46.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement