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McDonald’s Smith wins state discus title
By Joe Scalzo
COLUMBUS
He was on the verge of winning his first state championship — and, incredibly, his school’s 63rd in track and field — while simultaneously wiping out (OK, lessening) the memory of the worst day of his athletic career, but McDonald senior Christian Smith was as stone-faced as a McMansion’s chimney.
It was the second-to-last throw of Friday’s Division III discus competition outside Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium and, to win the title, Smith merely needed Arcadia’s Shae Watkins to fall short of the 191-foot, 2-inch monster Smith uncorked 30 minutes earlier.
When Watkins obliged — his best throw was 169-10 — Smith didn’t even smile. And when the last throw of Smith’s terrific high school career landed 180 feet away — one of four tosses that would have won Friday’s title — he still didn’t smile. It was only when Blue Devils coach Lou Domitrovich wrapped him in a bear hug that he broke into a grin and the tears started.
Of course, they were Domitrovich’s.
“You know what? When you invest all that time and energy into something, it feels good [to see it pay off],” Domitrovich said, grinning. “I’ll cry. I don’t care.”
A year earlier, Smith had walked into Ohio State’s discus circle knowing he was the best thrower in the state. But he fouled his first throw, then his second, then shortened his approach on the third throw for a get-me-into-finals throw that didn’t.
Suddenly, the guy who was supposed to be on the top of the podium wasn’t even on the bottom.
“Something like what happened last year isn’t something you can just wipe out,” Smith said. “As much as you want to, as much as it would be beneficial to you, you can’t.
“The thing you can do is use it in a positive way.”
But Smith vowed that moment would make him, not break him. He came back stronger — inside and out — this spring, unleashing a state record throw of 203-9 during the regular season, then breaking district and regional records en route to Friday’s finale.
He gave coach Mary Domitrovich a thumbs-up following Friday’s final warm-up throw, then smiled at her just before his first real one, which stayed in sector and flew 178-3, which, you know, only would have won last year’s state title by more than two inches.
“I was really confident,” he said. “I told everyone, ‘My first throw is going to be a mark this year. My first throw is going to be a mark this year.’
“I don’t know what I would have done if I would have fouled it. Thank God I didn’t.”
Said Mary: “It was good to see him get that bear off his back. In life, we all learn things from stumbling blocks in our path and I think it [last year’s experience] served him well, especially in the offseason. He learned what he wanted and what got away from him and what he had to do to try to get it back.”
Smith reached 191-2 on his third throw but fell short of the state meet record of 196-3, set by McDonald’s Matthias Tayala in 2011. It may have been the only thing that went wrong on Friday.
“Yeah, I wanted that, but you can’t get everything,” said Smith, who became the 12th discus champion in school history. “It’s a great feeling [to win] and it’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. It’s not given, it’s earned and I’m blessed.”