State discus title a special one

He did it for grandpa.

Lane Voermans won the state A title in the discus. Voerman’s grandfather, Bill Voermans, came to every meet this season to watch Lane throw.

But Bill is suffering from cancer and was too weak to make the trip to Laurel for state.

Lane, a sophomore at Columbia Falls High School, said that was more than enough motivation to do well.

“It was all for him,” Lane said. He threw the discus 166 feet, 5 inches — 2 inches farther than Andrew Burrows of Hamilton and almost 10 feet farther than Voermans had thrown it all season long.

He actually set the winning state mark in the preliminaries, he said.

He called his grandfather right after winning the title.

“I know how you feel,” his grandfather told him. “But don’t be headstrong.”

In other words, keep on working. Voermans said he hopes to break the school record in the discus next year.

Voerman also credited his throwing coach, Brian McGrath and coach Kelly Houle. Houle coaches pole vault but would always come over and support him when he was throwing.

Houle also coaches the line for the Columbia Falls football team. Voermans plays right guard.

Voermans said he is considering an engineering or business degree after high school and he also wants to get his welding certificate through the school’s welding program under shop teacher Ben Schaeffer.

Voermans is the son of Dulcie Berube and Cody Voermans.