Danielle Swift Valley Christian Year: Senior Sport: Track Position: Discus, Javelin

Danielle Swift is right about where she should be for her senior track season, close to her junior season bests.

Her coach at Valley Christian, Don Dicus, has a simple plan for her to make the next step.

“She needs to get mad but stay in control,” he said.

The hardest part for Swift, who was second in the discus and fourth in the javelin at the State B meet last spring, will be to get mad.

“I’d like to be hitting 10 feet more in the javelin and discus and a couple of feet more in the shot put,” said Swift, who won the javelin (121 feet, 7 inches) and discus (111-9) and was second in the shot (32-7-1/4) at Ritzville last weekend.

“Right now her disc is up more because of her strength and form,” Dicus said. “In the javelin she’s excited because she’s back in the 120s. She’s getting her form in place. That’s the biggest thing.”

Swift said, “I guess I’m a discus thrower that does other events. I’ve been doing it for a long time.

“In discus I’ve had to come back to fundamentals, which was hard, but I’m building on that. In javelin I’m satisfied, not happy. I know where I’m at and where I want to go.”

Going to state is where she wants to go; medals are a by-product of her goals. “I’m happiest when I compete against myself, not others,” Swift said.

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