Frxyell takes first in state high jump

Matt Unrau

Valley Press

Junior, Dillon Fryxell capped off a near perfect track season by fighting off a pesky Aaron Palmer of Troy to be crowned the high jump champion of class B. It was a back and forth battle as Aaron Palmer jumped a personal record 6’7” to push the presumptive champion, Fryxell, to tie his previous best of 6’8”.

“It made me push myself harder,” says Fryxell over the high level of competition Palmer brought to the state meet.

It far surpassed last year’s disappointing fourth place finish for Fryxell at state. At that meet he was only able to jump 6 feet and the winner only jumped two inches higher.

It was a good day for Fryxell as he was once again jumping at his peak ability. He had a chance to break the state record, but he became a victim of his own success.

Because, he was close to breaking the state record the people running the meet were forced to get an official tape measure of the bar. After several delays, Fryxell was forced to wait close to 20 minutes for his next jump.

By that time his legs were cold and he couldn’t get back on track where he failed to clear the bar.

“I thought for sure I was going to get it,” said Fryxell after he cleared 6’8”. “ I had it (6’8”) by a lot.”

But, if you look at Fryxell’s improvement over last year’s jump he may not only beat the record during his senior year, but absolutely smash it.

The throwers who carried so much buzz with them all brought home at least one medal. Trent Thompson placed highest in an event coming in third place at the discus with a throw of 150 feet 8 inches. Ethan Harvey placed right behind Trent with a throw of 147 feet 7 inches.

Mitch Thompson threw the javelin 176 feet and 3 inches, which was good enough to earn him a fourth place finish in the event. Trent also took home a fourth place finish in the shot put by throwing 47 feet 8 ½ inches.

The team finished with 28 points, which placed them fifth in the team competition. They were five points from taking home third place, which went to Troy with 32 total points.Manhattan won the meet with 64 points.