BREMERTON — Comfortable, but not too comfortable.
Oakville senior Lewis Koser has grown accustomed to seeing his name at the top of the projections going into a track meet.
After all, Koser came into Thursday’s 1B Quad District Championships meet in Bremerton as a two-time district champion and two-time state champion in discus. The last slot in the final flight always has his name on it.
To be the best, you have to beat the best, and in postseason action over the past three years, Koser is undefeated against those looking to usurp him from the top of the 1B discus totem pole.
“It makes me comfortable,” Koser said of seeing his name in first place in the projections before a meet. “But, sometimes I wish I had a little more competition so I train harder. I think it helps me get closer to my maximum throws in the meets so I’m not nervous all the time.”
He hardly broke a sweat during the district championships, let alone felt any nervousness.
Koser clinched a three-peat at the district meet, winning his third straight discus district title with a top throw of 164 feet, 10 inches — his best toss since April 4 at the Ray Ryan Memorial GHC Championships. Coming into the meet, his personal record of 171-7 was over 23 feet better than anyone in the field, and his toss of 164-10 Thursday was 22.5 feet better than the second-place finisher.
“I’m pretty happy. I’ve been working at this for quite a while, since I was in sixth grade,” Koser said of his third straight district title.
Koser’s journey to becoming one of the top prep discus throwers at the B level was in large part inspired by former Rainier High School thrower Jeremiah Nubbe. As an eighth grader at North River High School, Koser watched Nubbe break the Washington state record of 207-4 in 2022 with his own eyes and was inspired to jump into throwing full-time.
“I thought that was the most awesome thing I’d ever seen, and I just wanted to do that,” Koser said.
Few discus throwers in the nation have ever faced the amount of pressure that Nubbe endured while throwing in the ring, but Koser will certainly have a target on his back in Yakima next week as he looks to claim a third consecutive state championship.
As his accolades pile up, however, Koser feels less pressure. His legacy is already cemented, and everything that comes after is a cherry on top of the pie. A third straight state title is hardly that cherry on top; Koser wants the 1B state meet record, which stands at 169-0 and is held by Ian Frost of Mary M. Knight, set in 2018.
Koser set a goal for 175 feet at his final prep meet in Yakima, which is only four feet further than his PR of 171-7.
“I’m gonna have to do pretty well,” he said.
Koser also added a second consecutive runner-up finish at districts in shot put, and his path to the podium was rather wonky. He didn’t get a chance to check in before the event began since the discus ended just prior to the start of the shot put. His first throw of 46-10.25 without any warmup entrenched him into third place, and he followed it up with his best toss of the day at 48-10.
“It was pretty nice. It’s not my main event, but it was definitely nice to get on the podium for something else,” Koser said.
Koser will be the only representative from Oakville at Zaepfel Stadium next week at state, while Pe Ell will send six athletes to state, four of which qualified for multiple events. Junior Karli Phelps placed third in districts in the 100-meter hurdles at 17.39 seconds and took eighth in the 300-meter hurdles at 52.43 seconds. In the 300-meter hurdles, Phelps finished .01 seconds behind teammate Maisy King, who qualified for state in the event as a freshman.
Senior hurdlers Eli Mason and Blaine Howard will travel east for state for both hurdle events. Mason finished in third in the 300-meter hurdles at 43.59 seconds and fourth in the 110-meter hurdles at 16.50 seconds. Howard earned PRs in both events and placed fifth in both. He crossed the finish line in 17.38 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles and in 44.68 seconds in the 300-meter hurdles.
Junior Liam McGrath qualified for state in the 300-meter hurdles (fourth at 44.53 seconds) and the 1,600 meters (seventh with a PR of 4:52.33). Senior Hunter Harris booked his first trip to state in shot put, finishing in eighth at 39-11.
The 1B state track and field meet is set for next Thursday through Saturday, May 28-30, at Zaepfel Stadium in Yakima.
