Blessed One: Renton's Benedictus Looking for Repeat State Magic

When P.J. Benedictus' name was announced at the 2011 State Track and Field championships, a woman asked him what his last name meant.

"Blessed one," he replied. "Watch."

Benedictus then proceeded to notch a distance of 49 feet, 3/4 inches in the triple-jump, a score easily good enough to take the 2010 3A state title in the event.

The Renton senior may have been being tongue-in-cheek when he added the "watch" statement to his explanation, but his performance in the field this year is doing a lot to validate the Latin meaning of his last name.

"Track is My Life"

Benedictus does not shy from what the most important thing is to him.

 "Track is my life," Benedictus said. "It's my wife, it's my baby, it's everything I know. I don't know anything else but track."

That kind of dedication can be seen in the advances the WSU-bound Benedictus has made since his freshman year with the Indians. Benedictus topped out at 39 feet his freshman year in the triple jump. Sophomore year, he raised it to 44 feet, last year his 49 foot jump. He's hoping to clear 50 feet before his high school career ends.

"We knew he was going to be really good," Renton head coach Lance Winmill said. "As he progressed, he developed mentally in his approach to competition, which was really exciting."

Benedictus revels in the fact that he excels in an event that even most jumpers find hard to conquer. The triple jump requires an amazing amount of concentration and attention to detail. If one facet of the jump is off, the result will suffer.

"A lot of people can't do triple jump," Benedictus said. "It's a lot of technical stuff and I like a challenge."

Benedictus has taken that challenge to other events as well. Besides leading the 2A state field (Renton moved down classifications in 2010) in the triple jump, he is also second in the long jump and is one leg of the state-leading 400 meter relay team.

Perhaps his most astonishing accomplishment has come in the high jump. Benedictus decided to try the high jump four weeks ago in practice for the first time in three years. He now leads the state in 2A division with a personal best of six feet, six inches.

"It was the end of practice," Benedictus said of the first time he tried the high jump. "I just came over and said 'let me try this.' I bumped it up to six-four, just joking around and I jumped up and I cleared."

Division I

Benedictus will be taking that personal challenge next year to Washington State University, where he was awarded a 60-percent scholarship (track and field scholarships are rarely full). WSU won out over a slew of other schools, including Benedictus' personal favorite Boise State. The clincher was not the size of the scholarship (WSU offered 60 percent, Boise State 30 percent), but rather what Benedictus saw when he met members of the track team when he visited.

"My mind was set on Boise," Benedictus said. "My parents were like 'why don't you just take one more visit to another school just so you can get the feel of visiting more than one school'...for the track team, they're like a family...I fit in better with WSU than Boise."

Track and Field does not usually lend itself to a career after school, so, naturally, Benedictus is planning on majoring in something that will keep him involved in the sport is his life. He is looking at studying Kinesiology, but has also considered sports management and physical therapy.

"[Kinesiology] would be a good fit for me because it stays along the lines of track, studying human movement and things like that," Benedictus said. "I feel like that's the best fit for me. I don't really know anything else besides sports."

Powerful Beyond Measure

Each time before he jumps, Benedictus recites his favorite quote:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

Benedictus seizes on the "powerful beyond measure" aspect of the quote, going so far as to have it tattooed across his chest. He does not lack for confidence and those three words seem to signify why; he truly believes he is powerful beyond measure. 

"It helps me try to jump further," Benedictus said.

If his place on the leaderboards of his four events is any indication, 2011 could prove to be the year that he lives up to the quote that stares him in the mirror each morning.

"There's a possibility he could walk out with four titles," Winmill said.

Blessed one, indeed.