Sports Editor

Harmony’s Chris Bolinger is following a path similar to the one blazed by former teammate Nate Donley.

He’d like to take it a step further, however, at the Class 3A state track meet Friday at Winter Park’s Showalter Field where 11 Osceola County athletes will compete. Three more will be in action at the Class 4A state meet Saturday, also at Showalter Field. Action both days begins at 1 p.m., with the running finals set for 6:30 p.m.

Bolinger, with a discus throw of 174-7 at the district track meet two weeks ago, and 171-10 at the regional last Thursday at Harmony, is a favorite to win the state championship. His prime competition will be Charlie Tidwell, of Niceville, and Tiger Powell, of Lake City Columbia, who both have throws surpassing 167 feet.

Donley settled for fourth at the Class 3A state meet last year when his best throw, that would have captured the title, was barely out of bounds.

“What I learned from Nate was preparation and technique,” said Bolinger, a starting tackle for the Harmony football team.

Working with Longhorns throws coach Steve Landram, Bolinger added more than 30 feet from his best throw last year.

“Coach Landram is great. He does a good job of showing you what you need to work on,” he said.

Bolinger didn’t start competing in the track events until his junior year.

“I just didn’t get out there (earlier),” he said. “I went out with my friend, Brad Fouke, and got interested. I liked it right away.”

Landram said it didn’t take long to see Bolinger’s potential.

“The first time I saw him he showed promise. He has a great body type for the discus because he’s kind of long, and he listens to what you are telling him,” Landram said.

Bolinger studies videos of other discus throwers constantly.

“I’m all over YouTube for hours every night,” he said.

Landram said that intensity is what leads to success.

“I’d say that’s the one thing in common between Nate and Chris, that they study technique and that they want to do the work necessary to improve,” he said.

Bolinger said he added distance when he learned to slow down his spin prior to releasing the discus.

“You think that the faster you spin, the more momentum you have and the farther it’s going to go, but that’s not the way it works,” he said. “You have to slow down and give everything a chance to work in order. It’s my hip snap that gives me power, and if I’m spinning too fast, it’s not going to be there.”

Bolinger also competes in the shot put, but only to put points on the board for the team. He placed ninth in the shot put at the regional meet last week at Harmony.

“I don’t even practice it much,” he said. “It’s a whole other technique. You need a different body type to be really good, a lot bigger than I am (6-1, 195 pounds).”

Bolinger plans to accept a football scholarship to Union College in Kentucky.

“I like football, but I’m starting to like track more because it’s more of an individual accomplishment,” he said. “I may do both up there.”

Bolinger is the only Harmony athlete at the state meet.

St. Cloud’s 4 x 800 relay team of Sean Wood, Bailey Morgan, Carlos Perez and Matt Cole will run at the state meet after placing third at the regional meet. St. Cloud’s  300 meters hurdler, Luke Gardner, the regional runner-up, also competes.

St. Cloud’s Diana Martinez, the regional discus champ, also qualified in the shot put.

St. Cloud Coach Kevin Harkema lauded those efforts.

“Our 4 x 800 ran great and my anchor ran like he did at the conference meet with a 2 minute finish. They shattered our record,” he said. “Diana threw really well, posting her best in the discus. Luke ran out of his mind in the finals. I haven’t seen him that determined all season. I guess he picked a good race to run his best.”

Four Celebration athletes will compete, including regional champions Jessica Harter (pole vault) and Marcus George (110 hurdles). Tyler Osorio was the runner-up at 400 meters.

Saturday, Osceola’s Tynia Gaither will try for her second Class 4A 100 meters state championship after winning the regional April 28. She also won the 200 meters regional crown.

Osceola sprinter Defario Phillips, third at the regional, races the 100 meters, and Liberty high jumper Hudson Cadet, the regional runner-up, will compete at the 4A meet.

Poinciana’s Kanina Bonner was 14th (33-9.5) in the triple jump at the Class 2A state meet Saturday.