Timberland’s Alex McDonald had been to the Class 4 state track meet before, but this year turned out to be different.

McDonald just missed the finals in the shot put as a junior and he failed to qualify for state in the discus. This year, McDonald won both events at the sectional meet after improving nearly 12 feet in the discus. He credits the extra training he received over the summer from an unlikely source — Gary Cooper, who is the father of Troy junior Brian Cooper.

“My form was really bad until he cleaned it up,” McDonald said. “At first it was (awkward), but we became friends. Now we’re always rooting for each other at meets.”

McDonald entered Friday’s discus competition at Lincoln University’s Dwight T. Reed Stadium in Jefferson City with the third-best qualifying mark in Class 4 at 173 feet, 10 inches. His best this season was 179-4 until he unleashed a throw of 190-2 to give Timberland its first state champion.

In Saturday’s shot put, McDonald failed to advance to the finals despite entering with the fifth best qualifying mark at 54-1 1/4.