Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes McDonald senior Drew Zajack competes in the Division V boys discus, earning fifth place with a mark of 170-08. He also earned fifth in the boys shot put with a personal-best 57-03 feet.

COLUMBUS — Having to defend your state title in an event always leads to an interesting return trip as a senior. McDonald thrower Drew Zajack was up for the task in the boys discus, but placed fifth during the Division V meet, marking 170-08 feet. He did improve greatly over last year in the shot put however, earning fifth in that event as well with a personal-best toss of 57-03 feet.

“The lord has blessed me to be able to come here and make it to finals. It isn’t what I wanted (in the disc) by any means, absolutely not. Just to be able to be in this position to win state last year and be able to have that gold around my neck last year and make it to finals this year, it’s still a good feeling,” Zajack said. “Last year I was blessed enough to be able to win. I did improve my PR this year so it definitely made me want to work harder.

“I’m still happy, I’m still proud of myself and my teammates.”

Zajack faced tough competition in the discus, with the top three throwers all firing off persona best marks. Jackson Werling of Allen East won gold with a toss of 192-05 feet.

An elite thrower isn’t complete without stellar coaching, and Zajack gave credit to his throws coach, Mary Domitrovich.

“She’s been such a blessing, to be able to be with her for these past four years and for her to help guide me through every problem and every solution to every problem in the ring,” Zajack said. “For me, for Emma (Bundy), for Cierra (Shiley), to be able to have such an amazing coach like coach Mary. She’s like no other and it’s such a blessing to have her.

“It’s definitely a lot of hard work. You’re multitasking practically at practice. Some days you have to throw more shot than disc and some days you have to throw more disc than shot. It takes a lot of work to be able to be down here for two events.”

When he’s not throwing an implement, Zajack was a running back and defensive end for the Blue Devils football team.

“Football gave me a lot of injuries so it was really tough to be able to do what I wanted in the offseason, but then again there’s no excuses for that,” Zajack said. “It’s helped me out a whole lot. Football taught me so much on how to just be a good leader, not only to myself but to the younger class.

“It’s helped me out a lot in track because there’s a lot of trials and tribulations throughout everything you do. If there’s a problem on the football field, you know you have to stay calm and pray that you can fix it.”

This season was the first for the OHSAA’s new system with five divisions for track versus the previous three.

“Them switching to five divisions, I didn’t think this, but most people might have thought that this is going to make everything so much weaker,” Zajack said. “I’m not joking, I think this year got even harder somehow.

“Without a doubt, to be able to come here and have tremendous competition, it’s such a blessing by the good lord, and I’m grateful for it.”