TACOMA — Javelin runs in the family for Olympia High School junior Tucker Downing.
So does winning medals at state.
During Friday’s state meet at Mount Tahoma High School, Downing became the first Olympia javelin thrower to win multiple state medals since his older brother Cameron, who compiled three trips to the podium from 2023 to 2025, including a state title in 2023.
Tucker Downing improved on his sixth-place state finish from last spring, reaching the top five for the first time with a fifth-place throw of 168 feet, 7 inches, in the 4A boys javelin competition.
“It feels pretty good. I’m disappointed with how I threw today, but I’m ready for next year,” he said. “I was hoping to get back to the 190 mark that I got earlier in the season, but I didn’t quite get there.”
In the second flight, Downing improved his mark on every throw. He started at 163-9, topped himself at 164-5 then finished with 168-7 before entering the finals. The finals were not kind to most of the finalists, as only one of the nine throwers improved their mark in their last three attempts.
This season, Downing upped his average on his top throws from about 156 feet last year to about 173 feet, focusing on his mobility and speed. He said back in April that his older brother Cameron, who is now a Division I javelin athlete at Air Force, has taught him the majority of what he knows about javelin.
Tucker and Cameron got to compete alongside one another for two years, and Cameron has passed along the tools of the trade he’s gained to his little brother since beginning his collegiate career.
“He’s taught me a lot of the things that he’s been learning and that he learned through his high school career,” Tucker Downing said of his brother in April. “I learned a lot from him with his little critiques. He helped me perform my very best.”
Olympia senior Sam Rigg joined Downing on the 4A javelin podium, finishing right behind him in sixth place at 167-10 to cap off a stellar postseason. After winning the South Puget Sound League title and the District 3/4 4A title, he reached the state meet for the first time and secured his first medal.
Capital sophomore hurdler Quinn Sebring had a wild weekend in his state debut. In the 110-meter hurdles prelims Thursday, he recorded his first sub-15-second run at 14.94 seconds and punched his ticket to the state finals, sitting in sixth in the prelims. But, officials discussed the possibility of a rerun, Sebring said, after a competitor fell during the preliminary race.
Sebring was warming up as if he was going to run the event again, but he said it was canceled 10 minutes before it was scheduled to start.
“They were going to make us do a rerun, and I was not happy about that because I got sixth and really didn’t want to lose my spot in the finals,” he said.
The 3A 110-meter hurdles finals were broken up into two heats to allow the runner that couldn’t finish the prelims to compete, and Sebring ran an eighth-place time of 15.24 seconds out of the first heat. All he had to do to reach the podium was avoid finishing last in the finals, and he did that by two-hundredths of a second.
“It was my goal this season to get to the finals. Today, the weather was not good, and it was a crazy headwind,” he said. “It was like the headwind in the stadium was engineered specifically for the 110 hurdles. I clipped a bunch of hurdles. I don’t think I pulled my trail leg high enough, but every race is a learning opportunity.”
Sebring nor teammate Landis Bryan weren’t able to qualify for the state finals in the 300-meter hurdles prelims. Bryan’s time of 40.45 seconds was good enough for 11th place, and Sebring came in 15th at 41.26 seconds.
Capital junior Jae Walz shined in the 3A 800-meter prelims with a seventh-place time of 1:56.15 to qualify for the finals Saturday. Olympia senior Caden Durocher won his heat in the 4A 800-meter prelims at 1:55.68 and took second overall. He is seeking his second state medal in the event after earning eighth last year.
Friday's lone local girls medalist was Timberline senior Paityn Gagnon, who picked up her second piece of hardware so far this weekend with a fourth-place finish in a tough long jump competition. All nine finalists surpassed 17 feet, with Gagnon reaching 17-11.5 on her third attempt. She fouled two of her three jumps in the finals but still managed to walk away with a medal. Gagnon also earned a podium finish in the 3A high jump Thursday, making up a quarter of a four-way tie for sixth place at 5-2. She has a chance to win three state medals in one weekend as she will compete in the triple jump finals Saturday.
Timberline senior Carmelo Roper also added to his medal collection, following up a runner-up performance in the triple jump by finishing seventh in the long jump at 21-8.75. He capped off his prep career with a total of four state medals, including three in the triple jump and one in his first state appearance in the long jump.
Yelm senior Madelyn Lawson was close to making the state finals in the 4A shot put but was the first one out, registering a 10th-place mark of 35-4.25. Capital senior Gus Valek recorded a top throw of 135-9 for a 14th-place performance in his final prep discus competition.
River Ridge senior Shanyce Hamilton concluded her high school career by throwing 83-4 to take 19th in the 3A discus.
