The last three 3A state javelin titles are housed at Bellevue High School. Tanner Lien and Matt Gilbert will have their sights set on number four this Friday.
As the duo prepares for the 3A state track and field meet at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, both are aware of the history that will precede them at the event the Wolverines have owned since 2008. And perhaps no one understands it better than Bellevue javelin coach Tom Ellis.
Before Lien upped his game to championship level last year, taking the 3A title with a throw of 188-06, Ellis coached Robert Hintz, who was the back-to-back javelin state champion at the 3A level in 2008 and 2009.
Ellis for one, believes that Lien has a shot to raise the stakes again on May 27.
“Tanner could beat Robert’s record, he has a very real shot,” Ellis said. “Robert didn’t throw over 200 until that state meet his senior year.”
Both Lien and the junior Gilbert have been working their runway technique- increasing speed on the approach in order to increase momentum ideally, distance. Ellis said that came as a result of watching film from this season’s Shoreline Invitational, where the two-time defending 1A state champion Curtis Clauson of King’s (Shoreline) showed the Bellevue duo how longer, faster strides translates into drastically increased distance.
The work has paid off for both, with Lien increasing his personal record to 191-07 at the Sea-King District meet and Gilbert also notching his best throw of the year at districts with a 185-03. They hope that trend continues this week.
“My goal all year has been to be over 200,” Lien said. “I’m hopefully ready to peak and I’ve definitely been focusing on what I need to do to meet that mark, which is that technique.”
Despite watching Lien constantly one-up his own marks all season, Gilbert is not the least bit envious of his teammate.
“It makes me so much better,” Gilbert said of training with Lien. “It’s always better to have him beat me than someone else, it’s always fun.”
They were both adamant that the goal at state is to bring both a state title and runner-up finish home to Wolverine Way. Both said they would not mind finishing second, as long as it’s the other who finishes first.
“They have a really good chance of going one-two again this week,” Ellis said. “The only question is who will be one and who will be two?”
Woolsey, Kameni lead runners
Another of Bellevue’s main threats at a championship is Addison Woolsey, who is in the field for both the 800 and 1,600 meter runs.
In only his second season as a track and field athlete, the junior has proven he can kick with the best conference and district have to offer, winning the 800 and placing third in the 1,600 at last week’s Sea-King District meet.
“I just hope that he (woolsey) is able to have the race of the season for himself,” Bellevue head track and field coach John Hill said. “He’s done more than hold his own in our conference and district.”
Woody Butler is another of the Wolverines’ entries at state and will run in the 400 meter dash, where he finished third at districts.
“Woody has been knocking on that door and now he’s kicked it through,” Hill said. “He could make that final and make a difference.”
Freshman Floriane Kameni will be the lone female participant for the Wolverines, running in the 100 meter dash and participating in the second flight of the long jump.
Kameni, who also is a member of the Seattle Speed Track Club, has won various local and national championships at the junior level and will likely not be in awe of the atmosphere at state.
“These marks are mostly just early season for her,” Hill said. “She’s very talented and that’s just proving itself.”
Kneip rounds-out field event entries
Michael Kneip qualified for state in the shot put with a 47-00.5, good for third place at districts. He ended the meet in second in the discus at 144-06 and will be in the first flight of both events this week.
Hill called Kneip “a tremendously hard worker” and compared his throwing abilities to those of David DeCastro, who also starred for the Wolverines in football and is currently a standout offensive lineman for the Stanford Cardinal.
The Bellevue girls will be without sophomore Julia Ellings, who qualified for state in the 800 meter run but instead will take advantage of an opportunity to play at Carnegie Hall with her orchestra.
