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Most of the track and field athletes competing in today's Pasco Invite have dreams of being the best in one of the state's most prestigious meets.
Jonathan Buchanan would settle for being the best in his family.
East Valley's outstanding senior thrower -- a rare blend of muscle and speed that allows him to compete with the sport's big guys in the shot and discus and then run against the little guys in the 400-meter relay -- would dearly love to add a Pasco Invite title to the 2A state medal he won in the shot last spring.
But more than that, he wants to knock his grandfather, Bill Buchanan, off the top of the mountain of Yakima Valley throwers. The eldest Buchanan owns the Yakima Valley shot record at 60 feet, 7 inches, and won state titles in 1956 and '57 competing for Moxee High.
"I've had my eye on that for quite a while," said Jonathan, whose best mark is 59-5 -- 14 inches short. "It's doable, but it's going to take a good day to throw when it's warm and I'm throwing against good competition.
"I'm kind of hoping Pasco would be the meet to do it."
If it is, the competition he's looking for likely will come from Hazen's Andrey Levkiv, the returning 3A state runner-up in the shot and the top seed at Pasco with a season best of 60-6.
He's also seeded first in the discus (174-6) ahead of Buchanan (169-8).
Buchanan, who expects to sign with Eastern Washington in the next two weeks, does not look like a traditional thrower. At 6-foot, 225 pounds, he's powerful indeed but far more resembles the fullback he plays in the fall (he's also a standout basketball player) than the big offensive linemen-types classic to the shot. So the distance he generates has more to do with speed and technique than brute force.
"I'm not a big guy, so I have to have speed," said Buchanan, who uses the spin technique.
He's worked hard to become a top-notch thrower since joining the team as a freshman more suited to sprints, said East Valley coach Chris Bartheld.
"Jonathan is probably the hardest-working kid I've ever worked with in track or football," said Bartheld, who coached East Valley's JV football team for three years.
Buchanan, whose event coach is his dad, also named Bill, said he grew up playing baseball in the spring instead of competing in track, but finally took up the family tradition as a freshman.
"With my dad and grandpa, I always planned on doing track once I got to high school, try to break the record," he said. "I did want to follow in their footsteps."
But is Buchanan putting a lot of extra pressure on his shoulders by talking about this record? You bet he is.
"Actually, I find that I'm fairly good under pressure," said Buchanan, who won his state title last year on his last throw, having to make up more than a foot on the leader. "My last throw is usually my best."
And how would grandpa feel if his record fell to the new generation?
"He wants me to break it worse than I do," Jonathan said.
