Top of the class

By WILL PARCHMAN

Northwest Florida Daily News
315-4484 | willp@nwfdailynews.com

One was a defending state champion and the other had never been to a state meet before.

Indeed, coming into this spring's track season there weren't too many similarities between Paxton's Erin Walker and Fort Walton Beach's Matt Bevil. While Walker had blasted the competition as the state's finest Class A discus hurler the year before and seemed poised to do it again, Bevil, a junior middle-distance runner, still hadn't even been to a state meet and admittedly didn't have state title aspirations before the season began.

What a difference a year makes.

Walker repeated as the Class A discus champ like so many had expected with a Herculean throw of 130-08, besting her nearest competition by 14 feet. Perhaps signifying the kind of peerless year the Paxton junior enjoyed, the throw still fell short of her season high of 132 feet from districts and improved on a career during which she's only lost twice.

For his part, Bevil made his own name for himself this year, losing just two open races all season en route to a second-place finish in the 800 meters at the Class 3A state meet with a time of 1:54.70, the sixth fastest 800 time among all classifications at state.

Thanks to a pair of stellar years, Bevil and Walker are this year's boys and girls All Sports Association/Daily News Track Athletes of the Year.

"Coach (Herb) Haddock always picked on me that I can always do better. He was always encouraging me like, ‘You better not be no one-hit wonder,' " said Walker, who ultimately had the fifth-best discus throw in any classification at state this year.

"We have really good team support and the coaches believe in us 100 percent," said Bevil, who edged Niceville's Christian Ritacco for the award.

During her sophomore year at Paxton, Walker and a friend came up with a list of 72 things that need to be done in the discus circle for a successful throw. Walker said that there were few times this year that she didn't hit on all 72 during a throw, especially late in the year when the pressure only intensified.

"Everybody was like, ‘You better come back with the medal, just don't come back if you don't,' " said Walker, who does 100 throws a day during the offseason in preparation. "It was nerve-wracking."

Of all the open races Bevil competed in this year, he only lost two, one at districts to teammate Luc Lawrence and then one more at the final state race, where he finished a mere second off the winning time. And he had to push through the entire state series with a strained foot, something that barely held him back.

"I heard about all the rankings all year, but it was always just about pushing in practice," said Bevil, who clocked in with the third-fastest 800 time in the state at the FSU Relays earlier this year. "So none of that really mattered."

While the two came from opposite ends of the spectrum before the season began, they both finished in rarified air.

"In track, I wanted the award," Walker said. "It was something I wanted to achieve."

"I'll take second place in state this year," Bevil said with a smile. "Hopefully next year I'll put in the right training and it'll happen."