Sehome’s Ben Malquist didn’t become a state champion over night.
“I’ve been practicing five nights a week either by myself or with my coach,” Malquist said in a phone interview.
All that work paid off for the junior on Friday, May 27, at the Class 2A State Championships, when he claimed the state title in the shot put with a throw of 51 feet, 11 inches — more than a foot better than his previous personal best. He beat second-place Austen Daisa of Black Hills by more than a foot.
“It was my first throw,” Malquist said. “I was feeling really good today. I finally got everything together.”
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Malquist was particularly pleased that it all came together Friday, after he had a good throw on his final attempt at last week’s district meet nullified by a scratch.
Friday, he said he managed to “keep it all in.”
“It feels really good,” Malquist said. “Coach and I have been making this dream for two years.”
Now he has his eyes set on trying to repeat the feat next year.
“I’ve just got to do more of the same thing I did this year,” he said.
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