Seth Hoff’s Persistence, Willingness to Try the New Helps Him Take Home 4 State Trophies

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About two months before finding the podium in four events at the state track and field championships in Tacoma, W.F. West’s Seth Hoff picked up a pole vault stick for the first time and gave it a try.
On April 1, with aspirations of school records and state titles in his more signature events like javelin and long jump, Hoff tried his hand at pole vault and practiced with the group for the first time.
Less than two months later, on May 28 — after he won a district title with a personal-best vault of 12 feet, 6 inches — Hoff repeated the feat at state and took home seventh in the state in a brand new event.
When he looked back on his track career, Hoff said he would remember his pole vault experience the most.
“I got to experience those people, and those people were probably one of my favorite things,” Hoff said. “We also had coach (Don) Rinta, he’s an amazing guy and is just a purehearted man who truly does love us.”
For a sport where, often you find a niche and stick to that niche, Hoff wanted to give something new a try as his high school career dwindled.
A longtime jumper, javelin thrower and occasional relay racer, he put his athleticism to the rest in early April with some seriously talented and dedicated vaulters, and it paid off.
“You have no idea what your potential is if you don’t try it at all,” Hoff said.
While bursting onto the pole vaulting scene, Hoff kept plugging at his more regular events as well, taking home a state title in the javelin with a personal-best throw in Tacoma of 184 feet, 2 inches, good for third in school history and four feet off the program record.
Though he wanted the school record badly, Hoff was happy and content with his performance, and attributed the late-season personal-best to a competitor of his who showed him what he had been doing wrong for most of the season. Watching Hockinson’s Cody Wheeler during warmups and working with him during meets, Hoff focused on his block, and it paid dividends.



“I ran over to my teammates and it was honestly one of the best moments of my life,” Hoff said. “Having all those amazing teammates there. We were a family at that point. We literally spent every day together. It was a beautiful moment for me.”
In the long jump, Hoff finished eighth with a 20 foot, 4.25 inch leap, and in the high jump, Hoff leapt over the 5 foot, 10 inch bar to finish seventh at the state championships.
Hoff found a way to earn a place on the podium in every event he competed in, smiling from ear-to-ear after putting all he had into the last few months of his high school career.
“As soon as track season hit, I was 100% locked in,” he said. “I was in the gym every single day. Those were the best times of my day when I was in the gym. I was in there everyday with my brother. That’s why all of it was so special for me, I got to spend all that time with him.”
Alongside his brother, Lucas, who he competed alongside up until districts, Hoff saved his best for last.
But he’s far from finished.
Hoff said he’s looking forward to finding a college that will let him compete in track this upcoming fall or in the future, and once that’s settled, will look to walk-on to the basketball team as well.
“I’m going to be doing track my whole life, I have to,” Hoff said. “It’s hard to explain, it's like a happy place, everyone is there in a good mindset and it's a whole environment that's beautiful.
“Track and field is probably going to be in my life forever. Track and field, it’s everyone's home.”