By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Des Moines — After missing out on his junior season, Mount Pleasant’s Cooper Pullis wanted to come out of the gates hot today.
Come out hot, he did.
Pullis launched his best throw of the day on his first throw, hurling a mark of 52 feet, 9 3/4 inches placing him 5th in the Class 3A shot put earning the Panther throw teams their third medal of the weekend.
“I was very excited about my finish. You know not having last year, it was motivation to come out here and prove it one last time. It was awesome to be out here and do that.” Pullis told KILJ.
A Drake Relays qualifier, Pullis is another notch on the belt of outstanding Panther throwers which know has a bit of a dynastic feel to the program.
“A lot of those [great throwers] have been around us this year. Justin Dunn, Steve English, Emmitt Wester, you know it feels good to go out and prove what they proved.” Pullis said of carrying on the tradition.
He also was able to watch two of his closest friends, female throwers Grace Kelley and Jadan Brumbaugh, medal both today and yesterday.
He wanted to carry that torch into this afternoon.
“Every day at practice we build off one another and they do same things for me. We work with each other not against each other.”
“I am a bigger fan of Jadan Brumbaugh than I am of myself” Pullis said with a smirk.
“She’s been awesome to watch this year, I can’t say enough.”