Commack thrower Julie Thomas thrives under pressure

Julie Thomas knows that they know, and she think that’s really cool. Flying under the radar is a virtual impossibility these days for the Commack senior. Anonymity goes out the window when you win a state championship, as Thomas did in the indoor shot put last March. Now, she’s a known commodity in every circle she enters.

That pressure wilts some, but not Thomas.

“There's a certain amount of pressure, because people might see me at a meet and already kind of know who I am and what I won. I honestly take that as a humongous compliment,” Thomas said. “That inspires me to perform even better — to just prove to myself, my coaches, and everyone who's helped me get where I am that, I could do it once, I could do it again. The work is worth it.”

Thomas’ indoor title defense could not have gotten off to a better start. She threw the shot 41 feet, ¼ of an inch at a Suffolk crossover meet last month, a number that still holds as the best in the state this season, as of Thursday, according to milesplit.com.

The throw was a personal best said Thomas, who won her indoor state championship with a toss of 40-10 1/2. Already, she’s ahead of schedule, and ahead of everyone else in the state.

“To have the top throw in the state right now, especially so early in the season, it's such a great feeling,” said Thomas, who will throw at Monmouth next school year. “It's such motivation to just keep improving. I feel that I have a lot more left in the tank and I hope to be, closer to the postseason, leading the state by more and just throwing better and better, because I just know it’s what I'm capable of.”

Thomas has switched throwing techniques in the circle — transitioning from the glide to the spin. While the glide got her a state title, it also caused her immense frustration. At points during last season, she felt she had plateaued. The throws just weren’t popping like they should have been and she couldn’t control them the way she wanted to.

The spin is completely different. Thomas is in control and, as evidenced by her state-leading toss, hitting numbers she wasn’t even really thinking about last year — certainly not before the calendar turned.

“I feel more in tune with my body,” Thomas said. “I can feel the things I need to fix and I can fix them better. There's a lot more technique to spin, in my opinion . . . Feeling this comfort with a new technique and this potential, it's really exciting for me.”

There’s still a lot of season left until the state championships in March, but Thomas makes know qualms about the main goal — another state title. As she sees it, she’s not defending it, as much as just potentially winning it again.

“That championship doesn't belong to me,” she said. “I have to go (in like) I've never won it before and I have to win it again. That's really important to me.”

Fulton in control of sprints

If it wasn’t already known that Elmont’s Ashley Fulton will be hard to beat in the shortest distances, consider this — the defending outdoor Federation 200-meter champion has the top time in the state in both the 55 and 300, as of Thursday, according to milesplit.

Fulton, a junior who also won the Division I 100 and 200 titles at last year’s outdoor state championships, ran a 7.07 in the 55 and a 38.48 in the 300 at the Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational at The Armory in Manhattan in mid-December.