Tahoma's Derek Eager braced for final fling | Boys track and field

MAPLE VALLEY — He grew up watching his idols win state title after state title and told himself, one day that will be me.

First it was Aretha Hill and Travis Coddington in the mid-1990s, then Shannon Rance, Korion Morris and Jason Harris. All were Renton throwers groomed by coach Keith Eager, who happens to be his father.

Derek Eager, who got his first javelin on his 12th birthday, seemed destined for track-and-field stardom when he reached Tahoma High School.

"My goal was to win state many times and have a great high-school throwing career," he said.

But injuries interfered and Eager is still in pursuit of his first state crown as a senior. A torn rotator cuff cost him most of his freshman season, although he threw left-handed just to stay busy. Last year he broke his right tibia wrestling in mid-February and competed wearing a boot most of the season, ultimately placing sixth at state in the javelin and 10th in the discus.

"Injuries did kind of hold me back a lot," Eager said. "But I've worked hard just to overcome all the injuries. I definitely trained a lot to be where I am now. Obviously, it would have been nice not to have any injuries at all, but it's taught me a lot. It made me stronger."

The hard work and extra training — along with giving up football and wrestling to avoid injuries — are paying big dividends. Eager, who's 6 feet 5, 230 pounds, recently set a state record in the javelin at 218 feet, 7 inches, which ranks No. 1 in the nation this season. (Tom Sinclair of Peninsula set the "old-style" implement state record, 239-1, in 1975, when the weight of the javelin was distributed differently.)

Eager also leads the state in the discus at 181-6 (No. 8 nationally) and sits fifth in the shot put (53-5).

His javelin record came on his third throw at the Kent-Meridian Invitational on March 27, a sunny day that started with a premonition — as well as his usual can of pineapple for luck.

"I had a feeling it was going to be a good day when I woke up," said Eager.

He opened with a toss of 207, then threw 212-5, just two inches short of the state mark. His dad asked him if he could squeeze out two more inches and Derek told him, "I've got this."

When the event official dialed up the numbers, the crowd — which had steadily grown — cheered. His throwing coach at Tahoma, Jennifer Gosnell, got tears in her eyes. Derek's big celebration was a smile.

"It was a good feeling, I was happy," he said. "It wasn't really excitement, it was more relief that I finally got the record I've been going for for a long time. Everybody was waiting for me to be like shocked, like jumping up and down, but I kind of expected it for a long time."

The seeds of expectation were planted early. He wasn't even in preschool yet when his father began working with Aretha Hill, a big-sister figure who is currently training for yet another Olympic run.

"I'd go down (to practice) and throw Tupperware lids around, anything light that was discus shaped, I'd throw it," Derek said. "And as I grew up, different throwers would come in, like Korion Morris and Shannon Rance. I was always with good throwers, throwing stuff around, and it kind of got me motivated to be like them."

Keith made throwing fun when Derek was young. Dad would heave a tennis ball off the porch of their Maple Valley home, which sits on four acres, and Derek would try to spear it with a javelin. If Derek threw a certain distance, he'd be rewarded with a Slurpee. When Keith took his Renton wrestlers to throwing camps, Derek tagged along.

Sports have always been a family tradition with the Eagers. Keith also coaches wrestling at Renton and mom Sally is the volleyball coach at Tahoma. Sister Kylie, a 6-3 freshman, plays volleyball and also dabbles in track and field, and brother Brock, an eighth-grader, already talks about breaking all of Derek's records.

Derek, a 3.73 student, trains with former Olympian Duncan Atwood, a UW graduate who won a pair of Pan American gold medals. He also works on his flexibility with Mark Neal at the Tiger Mountain gym.

"He's fully committed to doing this," Gosnell said. "He hasn't even started to peak yet. I think we're just seeing the beginning of what's to come."

Derek, who took a recruiting visit to UCLA last week, hopes the hard work pays off next month with that elusive state championship — actually, three of them: javelin, discus and shot.

"My goal is to win the triple crown," he said.

And that would make his wait all worthwhile.

Sandy Ringer: 206-718-1512 or sringer@seattletimes.com