Class 6A dual champ always gives best shot
Cypress Creek’s Meia Gordon is extremely happy now that her dad persuaded her to throw back in middle school, and she should be. She’s a three-time state qualifier in the shot put and a Class 6A state champion in shot and discus after winning both in May. The Oklahoma signee is heading to the World Youth Track & Field Trials later this month in Illinois.
Q: How long have you been throwing, and how did you get into it?
A: I started in seventh grade and I really didn’t want to do it but my dad really pushed meto do it, so he’s really the reason that I started. He’s the reason I started summer track and really got dedicated to it.
Q: What did your dad see that made him believe this was a good sport for you?
A: He saw my potential. I really didn’t like it. I thought it was really masculine, and I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t want to do this.’ But my dad was just like, ‘Give it a try,’ and he really worked with me at it. And I really wasn’t doing any other sport at the time but basketball, and basketball’s way harder to get recruited for than track is.
Q: When did you really fall in love with it?
A: The summer after seventh grade, going to eighth grade, was my first year doing summer track, and I went to Junior Olympics and got second place, and I PRed by 4 feet in one track meet. After that, I was like, OK, I’m sticking with this forever.
Q: What fuels your passion
for throwing?
A: I’m just really competitive, so I hate to lose. In seventh grade, I lost every track meet because I’d never done it before. It was just me going off my talent. And once I put in the work for it, and I got good at it, then it was just the competitive vibe. So if I went up against a girl whowas throwing farther than me, I would go beat her, and my dad would be like, ‘Whoa, where’d that come from?’ And I’d just say, ‘I didn’t want to lose.’
Q: How’d you feel about placing second in the shot last year?
A: I was devastated last year because I was in first the whole track meet until the last throw, and N’Dia Warren-Jacques, who’s up at Texas now, won it on her last throw. I was devastated, but she gave it her all and I couldn’t even be madat her. She PRed on her last throw at state, so I was like, ‘You deserved it.’
Q: Before state this year, did you see big improvements?
A: My first track meet indoor, at Texas A&M, was my PR (48-11½), and I thought, OK, I’m going to keep PRing and it’s going to be a great year. And then after that it stayed the same, so I didn’t really see a big jump (in the shot). In discus, I did. In discus, I threw 160 and I was like, ‘Whoa.’
Q: What put you over the top at state this year, and how good did it feel to win gold?
A: It felt good to finally win because I’ve been predicted to win in the past. Last year, I was supposed to win and I didn’t, so I was sad about that. I knew this year I had to do it. It was my last year, and I had to go give it all.