Alexander Yeon’s junior track and field season was hindered because of injuries. Coming off a third-place finish in the shot put at the indoor state championships, the sky was the limit for the Winters Mill thrower heading into the spring.
However, the injury bug had other ideas.
“Overall I feel I did pretty well considering progression from the beginning of the season. I got multiple injuries during outdoor,” he said “I twisted my ankle halfway through and I also had a wrist injury almost the entirety of outdoor season. I think that played a role, hindered me a bit.”
But Yeon found a way to make the most of his time on the sideline.
“I did less throwing and more learning about the throw outside of the circle,” he said. “I wasn’t able to throw because I was injured and not able to do the movements, so I just watched videos and learned and see how I’m supposed to do it. That’s all I did for a few weeks when I was unable to throw.”
When he was in the circle, Yeon was tough to beat. Despite not being 100%, he racked up several invitational wins and Carroll County titles in both shot put and discus, contributing big points to the Falcons’ county team championship.
For his season efforts, Yeon is the 2024 Carroll County Times boys outdoor track and field Athlete of the Year.
Winters Mill’s boys lost out on a team championship at the indoor county meet in the winter by a third of a point. The team knew it had championship-level talent. And now, the motivation was there to get the job done. Yeon was looked at as someone to help lead the way to glory.
“It was our school’s first county win in about 13 years and along with that, during indoor we barely got second but the most random DQ we got second,” he said. “Everybody knew we could do well enough to get first at counties, but it was a matter of if we would compete to our previous standards. On the bus ride there, they were like, ‘Go get us 20 points.'”
Yeon’s two wins got those desired points and Winters Mill earned a 17-point win over Manchester Valley. It kicked started a strong postseason for the junior.
Yeon added a 2A West Region championship in the shot put and a runner-up finish in the discus. He went on to finish fifth at states in both events, despite throwing a personal best 146 feet, 2 inches in the discus. His best shot put throw came before his injuries, throwing 48-7.
He’s looking forward to seeing how far he can go in what he hopes is a healthy senior season.
“For my senior year, I’m trying to actually not be injured for once and finally be at my full strength, show my full throwing ability,” he said. “I want to get some really big numbers, but I know it will be hard to do. Progressing that much will take a lot of work.”
He’s not afraid of hard work. It’s how he got to this level in the first place.
“I started my freshman year,” he said. “Mostly the upperclassmen, they were my friends and they were throwers. That’s what got me started.”
Yeon knew he had a long way to go in the sport, despite some initial success, but decided to do what he had to do to improve.
“It was right when COVID started to end. So then, at that point everyone was bad. So I was OK, even though I was completely knew. I went to regionals for both discus and shot put. I didn’t do really well, but I did OK.
“Considering before I did track I did not do any other exercise, any other sport at all, I started going to the gym every day. And then I started putting the work into my sport, studying it.”
All-County first team
Oluwatobi Adelaja, Francis Scott Key, junior
Adelaja was the county high jump champion and cleared a personal best 6 feet to place sixth at the Class 2A state meet. He was also county runner-up in the long jump.
David Akinboye, Liberty, junior
Akinboye was the county champion in the long jump (20-4 1/2). He was county runner-up and 1A West Region runner-up in the 100.
Christian Childs, Manchester Valley, senior
Childs followed up his county championship in the 800 with a win at the 3A North Region meet and a third-place finish at the state meet (1:53.63). He was also county runner-up in the 1,600.
Ezekiel Harris, Manchester Valley, junior
Harris won the county title in the triple jump (41-4 1/4) and ran on the Mavericks’ 4×200 relay that won the county title.
Ryan Hartranft, Century, junior
Hartranft won the county championship in the 1,600. After finishing second at regionals, he came back with a personal-best time of 4:13 to win the Class 2A state championship in the event.
John Manley, Westminster, senior
Manley was the county’s top hurdler, winning county titles in the 110 (16.35) and 300 (42.39) hurdle events. He ran on the Owls’ county runner-up 4×100 relay team.
Lukas Michael, Westminster, senior
Michael closed his standout high school career with a 3A state runner-up finish in the pole vault. He cleared 14 feet during the season.
Isaiah Rivera, Winters Mill, senior
Rivera won the county championship in the 400 (49.43) and placed third at regionals and seventh at states in the event. He was also county runner-up in the 200.
Jackson Steinbrenner, Winters Mill, senior
Steinbrenner was the county champion in the 3,200 (9:58.61). He finished second in the event at both the 2A West Region meet and the state championship meet. He was third at the county meet in the 1,600.
Ryan Vollmer, Liberty, sophomore
After finishing second to Michael in the pole vault at the county meet, Vollmer cleared 13 feet to win the Class 1A state championship.
Deon Whitlow, Winters Mill, junior
Whitlow was a key contributor to the Falcons’ team county championship winning the 100 (11.05) and 200 (22.43). He was second at the 2A West Region meet in the 100 and third in the 200.
