Ridgefield’s Trey Knight breaks national hammer record

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With a toss of 261 feet and 7 inches, 18-year-old Trey Knight broke the national high school record in the hammer throw recently.

The record-breaking toss was his fifth of six attempts during a Super Thrower Track Club meet at the Concordia University Throws Center in Portland on Saturday, June 27. His massive throw broke the record of 260 feet, 5 inches, which was set in 2013 by 2016 U.S. Olympic trials winner Rudy Winkler.

“Once it left my hand, I knew it was a big throw,” Knight said, mentioning that he was “super pumped” to break the record. His previous best was 256 feet, 6 inches.

The throw was observed by multiple officials with the United States Track and Field governing body. Knight said that the facility he made the throw in didn’t have many of the materials needed to authenticate the record throw right away. He had to wait until his hammer was weighed on Sunday for the throw to be confirmed and authenticated.



Since the hammer throw isn’t an event recognized by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), Knight has been practicing the event outside of the Ridgefield High School Track and Field practice. During the school year, Knight said he got to practice the hammer toss two or three times a month due to schoolwork and other activities taking up time during his day.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and many of Knight’s school related activities being canceled or moved online, he’s been able to practice throwing the hammer three times a week. Knight said his ability to make the record-breaking throw was helped by the extra time to train. “It would’ve been a lot harder to get the record if I had only been practicing two to three times a month,” he said. “There’s a lot of timing and rhythm involved and it’s hard to get it down consistently when you only practice a few times.”

Knight is set to go to school at the University of Southern California. Knight picked USC because he liked the team’s assistant throwing coach, Dan Lange, as well as being able to major in kinesthetics.

“My dream is to go to the Olympics in the hammer,” he said in a previous interview with The Reflector. “I feel like Dan Lange is the guy that can get me there.”