The gold medal was within Mellion’s reach last Friday during the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet at Folsom High, but a clutch throw from a returning state placer took away his opportunity to bask at the top of the medal stand.
Any feeling of disappointment didn’t last long, however.
Mellion, a senior who was about to graduate, had secured his spot to the 105th California Interscholastic Federation State Championships with a second-place finish in the discus throw.
“I was proud,” he said. “I wasn’t that mad. I kind of was at first, because I don’t like losing, but I lost to someone who is really good and throwing for a while now.”
After receiving his medal, Mellion raced back to Manteca to graduate with his classmates. Since he arrived late, Mellion’s name was the last to get called. He did not return to Folsom the following day for the shot put, opting instead to focus his energy on the discus.
“It was probably one of the best nights ever,” he said. “Coming in second at Masters and then rushing back to go graduate with my people and my friends was pretty cool.”
Amador senior Eliot Traxler stole the gold on his final attempt, which went 175 feet, 9 inches. Mellion held the lead since his opening heave of 170-09. He nearly matched it with a 170-03 on his last try in the preliminaries, then scratched the first two attempts in the finals.
After Traxler took over first place, Mellion gave one last good effort to get it back. He improved his mark to 174-06, but it wasn’t enough.
“Going into Masters, I knew there were good competitors coming from all around the area, and two of them could throw farther than me,” Mellion said. “After the first round, I knew one of them was going to get the big one, and Eliot got it at the end. I had a chance to answer and gave it all I had, just came up short. I feel like it was good competition, and we gave the crowd what they wanted to see. Hopefully, I can do the same thing this week.”
Mellion has been on a tear in the postseason. He won both the shot put and discus titles in the Valley Oak League Championships, setting a personal record in the shot put at 54-10.
A week later, on May 14, Mellion broke the school discus record with a first-place throw of 178-03 in the SJS Division III meet. Te took fifth in the shot put two days later, playing a key role in Manteca winning its first section track title.
“I definitely thought that was the one, just (based) off the release,” Mellion said of his record-breaking throw. “My technique felt good, I got into a good power position and let ’er rip. It was how I wanted to throw it, and it was my last throw, too. I had nothing to lose, so I gave it all and broke the school record.”
Mellion’s recent accomplishments are remarkable considering that he hadn’t competed in track and field since before high school. He previously specialized in the javelin while competing in the youth USA Track & Field circuit.
Throwing heavy weights runs in the family. Older sister Galadriel was a standout at Weston Ranch, qualifying for state in 2022 and 2023 while coming away with multiple medals. She now competes for Arizona State.
“I didn’t think I’d be where I am right now,” Mellion said. “This is my first year back throwing. The season had already started when I got back into the flow of things, so I was behind. Big thanks to my dad, who has coached and helped me get to where I am today. For state this week, I feel like I’m well prepared and ready to get another medal.”
The state meet is on Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High’s Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis. Mellion is seeded seventh out of 23 for the preliminaries. The top 12 advance to the finals, and the best nine finalists are awarded with medals.
Mellion plans to continue with track and field as well as football at Modesto Junior College.
