Woods Caps Breakout Junior Year With Trip To State Track Meet

Last year Jaren Woods was one place away from getting to state in discus.

That near miss fueled the La Grange junior this year.

And he made the most of his opportunities this season and has won district, area and regional titles in the event en route to being the only male Lep to qualify for this year’s state meet.

“It’s crazy. I thought I was going to get to go last year, but I didn’t get it,” Woods said. “But I bounced back this year. I got to state and now the goal is to win it.”

But Woods has his work cut out for him.

He and the other eight state qualifiers in the Class 4A discus compete at 3 p.m. Thursday at the University of Texas. Woods’ regional mark of 148-feet 8-inches has him seeded eighth of the nine qualifiers.

But he’s ready to do his best in the biggest meet of the year.

“I still have a lot of time before state to practice and work on my technique,” Woods said. “Anything can happen a state.”

And Woods may be primed for bigger distances.

He won district with a 127- foot 4-inch throw, but then uncorked throws of 148-1 at area and 148-8 at regionals.

“We had high aspirations for him this year,” said La Grange head track coach Eric Amick. “He hits a PR (personal record) at area and then again at regionals. He’s worked for this. You gotta love it.”

This trip to state caps what has been a tremendous year allaround by Woods.

He was a standout defensive lineman for the Leps football team, and the 6-foot-4, 280-pounder has been piling up the collegiate football scholarship offers over the last few months.

He currently has offers to play for Baylor, California, University of Houston, North Texas, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt and Yale.

“It’s been good,” Woods said of the attention. “It’s a long process but you have to trust it. It’s a way out so I’m sticking with it. I want to make a decision before the season (this fall), but if that doesn’t happen then shortly after.”