Eva Akpandja thought she had blown it.
It was her final throw in the shot put at the WIAA state track and field meet last spring. The Edgewood High School junior was the defending state champion, but she was not the top seed, and she was not in first place going into the last round. Her longest throw to that point was 43 feet. The throw at the top of the leaderboard was nearly 45.
“It was my last throw, and I was like, ‘yo, I need to lock in,’” Akpandja said. “I literally said a prayer with Giff (head track coach Jeff Gifford), his kids, all the other coaches that were there.”…