In the Circle: State Meet Throws Preview

Friday morning should provide some fireworks with state record holders and defending state champions Tom Anderson of Andover (shot put) and Maggie Ewen of St. Francis (discus).

Tom Anderson comes into the meet with the 5th best throw in the country (65-8).  Anderson has made it known his desire to be the first Minnesotan to break the 70' barrier.  His father, Colin, was the first Minnesotan to break the 60' mark (Golden Valley, 1969).

The Future Arizona State Sun Devil (Anderson) will have a little stiffer competition in the discus on Saturday.  Bryce Johnson (Champlin Park) comes in with the top mark in the state (183-2).  Looking through the last several years of results, it's a pretty fair estimate to never count out Owatonna.  This year returns Zach Olson (North Dakota recruit) coming in off a season best mark of 164-4 from sections.  

Ewen (172-7) has broken her own state record and comes into the state meet ranked 2nd in the country only trailing current all-time high school record holder Shelbi Vaugh of Legacy TX (191-6).  Ewen will be pushed by a familiar face, White Bear Lake senior, and future Gopher, Angie Guenther.  Guenther has finished second and third behind Ewen the previous two years and comes in the competition riding a season best mark, and US Juniors qualifier, of 154-3 from section championships last week.    


The girls discus competition is extremely deep, with 12 competitors having season best marks over 130'.  9 of the girls competing are ranked in the top 100 All-Time in the discus.

Other names to watch this weekend on the east end of the track:

Ashley Thooft (St. Clair) comes in with the top marks in Class A in both events
Jordan Thornton (Lakeville South) comes in ranked 11th All-Time in both shot put and discus

Programming Note:  Down the Backstretch is on-site at the MSHSL State Meet!  We will be here today and Saturday.  The MSHSL plans to post live results on its web-site during the competition.  Since the live results will make our usual live-text coverage of the meet largely redundant, we plan, instead, to post photos and audio interviews from the meet, most likely following each separate Class AA and Class A session.