Colony senior lands shot to throw at next level

PALMER — Blake Carr traveled down a few different paths to find his niche in high school sports. But the journey led the Colony senior to the shot to compete in track and field at the collegiate level.

Wednesday afternoon, during a ceremony at Colony High School, Carr signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Southwestern Oregon Community College and compete for the Lakers, a junior college program.

“It’s awesome, I love it,” Carr said moments after he inked his intent.

Carr was a four-year football player at Colony, wrestled as a freshman, and even spent time as a sprinter on the track team. But as it turned out, Carr’s true home was in the ring, throwing the shot put. He went from working to find his role on a team to finishing as the Region III runner-up in the shot put last season.

“It’s different from most sports,” Carr said. “It’s not like football. It’s just you, but you’re helping your team out at the same time. I love it. I love football, but I felt like I wasn’t doing as much for my team. In track, I feel like I was doing more for my team.”

Carr grew up on the gridiron and capped his career as a defensive tackle. But his intentions on working as a sprinter conflicted with his growth in football, he said.

“I always wanted to (play in college), football mostly, but I realized I wasn’t big enough in football. I used to sprint in track, but then I started gaining weight in football,” Carr said.

That pushed Carr from the track to the ring.

“I thought maybe throwing is better for me,” Carr said. “I started enjoying it, started getting better at it.”

As a junior, Carr enjoyed a career year. He added five feet during his junior season, and finished second in regions and sixth in the 4A state championships. Carr hit 43-5 in regions, and followed with a personal record of 43-8 in state. Carr said those marks inspired him to work for the chance to throw at the next level.

“I realized I could do something,” Carr said.

Carr said he hopes to hit 50 feet as a senior.

Carr said he looked into a handful of programs, but Southwest Oregon, in Coos Bay, proved to be the school for him. Carr said he will study criminal justice in college and hopes to return to Alaska to pursue law enforcement.

“I want to come back and five back to the community,” Carr said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.