Local runner breezes through 200-meter dash

Lana Cromer/Columbia Basin Herald<br>"Everything went right with that race," says Aaron Wafer of winning the state title in the 200-meter dash last month.

by Pam ROBEL<br>Herald Sports Editor
| June 12, 2006 9:00 PM

MOSES LAKE — Aaron Wafer is limping out of the training room with a bandage around his toe and foot.

"I cut my toe," Wafer says a little sheepishly.

It seems Wafer, a junior at Moses Lake High School, has had no time to bask in winning the 200-meter dash at the state track meet over the Memorial Day weekend now that summer football practices have started to fill up his afternoons.

"He's (coach Greg Kittrell) making me suit up today even though I'm not practicing," said Wafer.

And despite the quick switch from one sports season to training for the next, Wafer has his eye on next spring and the next crack at possible state titles.

"The goal next year is to decrease my times, to get faster, and try to win state in the 100 and 200," Wafer said.

Wafer was philosophical about his races in the 100- and 400-meter dashes, saying they were just not the races he needed to run to win.

"Everyone was even going in to the 100, all the times were really close," said Wafer. "I needed to be perfect to have a chance to win."

Wafer also admits to feeling the pressure of the expectation going into the 100-meter race, a race Wafer was favored to win in the weeks before the state meet.

His title race, the 200-meter dash, is the one that Wafer talks about with relish, as though he is still savoring the feeling of crossing the finish line.

"The 200," Wafer said. "Everything went right with that race."

Switching back to talk of what's coming up Wafer says he is headed to a track camp in July and is hoping to get picked up as a runner for a college track team.

"I've mostly been looked at for football," said Wafer. "But I prefer track and am hoping that, after this summer, I'll get more looks."

Wafer says he enjoys the competitive but friendly atmosphere of track meets, saying that it is a more friendly and social sport.

"Everyone talks to each other (in track)," Wafer said. "Coaches call me the 'social butterfly' because I like to talk to people."

With the track season quickly fading Wafer says that his favorite part of a race is passing someone and he hopes to pass a few more people in the coming season.

"I like seeing someone's back, passing them and then knowing that they're behind you," said Wafer. "There's nothing like it."