Malvern freshman Parker Bowe earns All-Ohio honors, placing fourth at state in discus

All season long, Malvern’s heralded freshman Parker Bowe has been making his mark in both throwing events. That didn’t change Thursday as the OHSAA Track and Field State Championship got underway at Dayton’s Welcome Stadium.

Perhaps Bowe’s results were not up to his high standards, but you’ve got to be impressed with his fourth-place finish in the Division 3 discus. While his throw of 170-07 was 13 inches shy of the distance Bowe reached in the district meet, what is remarkable requires a glance at the list of finishers.

Wade Bolin of Ashland Crestview, who defeated Bowe at last weekend’s regional tourney, placed first with a monster throw of 187-10. Marion Local’s Jack Knapke was second at 177-01, and Cincinnati Christian’s Josh Holder was third with a distance of 172-09. And for good measure, add in Minster’s Charlie Schmiesing, who placed fifth behind Bowe with a throw of 166-07.

Every single one of them? A senior.

In fact, while three sophomores qualified for  state, Bowe was the lone freshman out of 18, meaning he’s got three more bites at this particular apple.

Which is good, because with Bolin gone next year, the race for the title should be wide open. Simply put, no one was defeating the Crestview senior this day. The only athlete to reach 180 feet, Bolin did it three times and his fourth-best throw 0f 179-02 also would have won the title.

Bowe fouled on his first and third attempts and his second and fourth throws were in the mid-160s, which would have placed him fifth. But on Bowe’s fifth try, he hit paydirt, comfortably outpacing Schmiesing and moving into fourth.

In the shot put, Bowe was not quite as fortunate and failed to advance to the finals. While he did improve on all three throws, the last heave of 51-04.50 had Bowe in eleventh and on the outside looking in as the top nine advanced to the finals.

It deserves mention that Bowe’s toss of 54-04.75 at last week’s regional tourney would have earned fifth place at state. But again, as in discus, Bowe was the only freshman competingamong the top 18.