From tragedy to triumph

After six weeks of refusing to fall down, Noxon's Derek Jensen stood tall atop the medal podium on Saturday, crowned as the state Class C shot put champion; a storybook ending to a struggle that began with the passing of his mother in April.

After six weeks of refusing to fall down, Noxon's Derek Jensen stood tall atop the medal podium on Saturday, crowned as the state Class C shot put champion; a storybook ending to a struggle that began with the passing of his mother in April.

"There is no way I can forget it. It's just one of those things that you see in the movies. Some kid goes through huge tragedy and then will come back and keep going," said Jensen. "It's hard to move on and if you work at (track), and I know I did, doing that helped cope with a loss."

For awhile, it looked like the ending to the season wasn't going to end as well as Jensen hoped. After leading Class C with the highest shot put mark for several weeks, Jensen barely got out of divisionals placing fifth and securing the final ticket for state.

The performance led to an extremely low seed for Jensen. Meet officials seeded him 16th in the field.

At state, however, it was a different story for Jensen as the nerves and pressure that plagued him at divisionals was replaced with confidence and determination. It didn't hurt either that he broke the 45 mark and qualified for finals on his very first throw.

"It was so much better compared to what it was like at divisionals. I was so much more relaxed. I got in there, closed my eyes for a minute and did it," says Jensen. His first throw was 45-1.

It was a throw that was good enough to seed him second for the finals and after no one pushed the marks in their first throws everyone began to really bomb the shot in the second set of throws.

Jensen, being seated second, was next to last to throw the shot put and if the good throws had put more pressure on him it didn't show. He stepped in the ring and launched the shot put for a personal record of 45-11 and , good enough for the top spot on the leader board.

"It didn't feel good and then I stepped out of the ring and saw it was past the 45 mark and they read it off and I was like ‘holy cow,'" remembers Jensen.

From there it was a waiting game and when the last competitor tiptoed out of the ring scratching his mark Jensen knew he had accomplished his dream.

"Right when I saw that I rose my hands up and said ‘yes!'" describes Jensen. "I ran over to my dad, coach and we all hugged each other."

Not only was it a triumphant moment for Jensen, but it was a great moment for his father who described his heartfelt pride in his son for not falling down and not giving up after Derek's mother passed away.

"He was ecstatic. I was kind of embarrassed," laughs Derek. "When they announced my name he started yelling ‘yeah! Yeah!"

It was a pride in his son that he shared with his wife, Lari, a fact not lost on Derek who couldn't help thinking about his mother after the win.

"After I packed up my gear, I started breaking down and thinking, seeing how excited my dad was, how excited my mom would have been and how much I wish she would've seen it," said Jensen.

For Track Coach Kelly Moore, it was a special moment that he won't soon forget.

"He's just a good kid. He's worked hard and come through some difficulties and to see him succeed like that was awesome. It was a good culmination to our track season."