LA JOLLA – Quinn Obrigewitch, whose last name is a mouthful, looks pretty chill. He’s waiting – the l-o-n-g wait — for the third flight in the shot put at the Viking Sunset Relays. The better you are, the longer you wait. The novices throw first, then, literally hours later, in this stack of 36 throwers, the longer-distance high school seniors and juniors get to step into the circle.
“He’s always relaxed,” offers his coach, Mark McPherson, standing aside him with teammate Tristan Shoemaker, also waiting for the third flight.
Obrigewitch – his dad’s family name points to “noble” or “brave” in Eastern Europe, “witch” meaning a familial lineage – stands in the morning shade of a storage building a short distance from the shot put circle. The University City High School senior’s not in a hurry…