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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Cooper Williams repeated as the indoor shot put state 4-A champion in spectacular fashion, throwing a cartoonish 61-08.50 on his first attempt. Manny Lewis of Marvin Ridge had no chance of catching the Davie senior as he took a distant second place at 53-06.50.
The state meet was held at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem on Feb. 15.
“He won by eight feet,” coach Rob Raisbeck said in amazement. “He came out on his first throw and threw his PR. Nobody else in the field had thrown over 54 feet, so he basically won the event on his first throw.”
“I planned on opening up with a kill shot,” Williams said. “My warmups felt strong. As soon as I let it go and I saw the ball fly, I was like: ‘That’s the one.’ I like to go for the kill right off the bat. I like to go my absolute hardest on my first and set the tone.”
Last year Williams captured his first state title with a throw of 58-06.25. After roaring out of the gate with his monstrous personal record, he used the rest of his throws to chase the state record, which is 62-plus.
“Then it was just a question of can he get the state record?” Raisbeck said. “On his last five attempts, he just absolutely went for it and he fouled every time. Earlier this year he had thrown 60 feet, three inches, so he put 18 inches on it. That’s a pretty hefty little PR. One of his throws was over 62. He fouled on it, but he’d have been real close.”
“I was just pushing as hard as possible,” Williams said. “Unfortunately, that caused me to scratch on all of them. When you’re record-hunting, it’s hard to stay controlled and not step out.”
Cooper’s older brother, Spencer, racked up four state titles as a War Eagle from 2021-22, winning the indoor shot put, the outdoor shot put twice and the outdoor discus. Spencer is a junior at North Carolina, and he’s done pretty darned good in his Tar Heel career. He made second-team All-ACC in indoor, and in outdoor he was fifth in the ACC in the shot put and sixth in the discus, making second team All-ACC in both events. Cooper needs two more state titles to match his brother, and he’ll have two more opportunities in the outdoor season. Cooper, who ranks 13th in the country in the indoor shot, will join Spencer in Chapel Hill next year.
It’s amazing stuff, not to even mention what the middle brother is doing at Baylor. Palmer led the country in punting in 2024 as a sophomore.
“I would say Palmer’s definitely going to make (the NFL),” Cooper said. “I definitely believe in him. If anybody’s got it, I know he’s got it.”
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AJ Sweet’s showing in the state was not too shabby as the junior took third in the pole vault at 14-06, losing only to Leesville Road’s Dillon Kaulback (16-00) and Wakefield’s Jack Tan (15-06). Sweet is ranked 19th in the country in the 2026 class.
“AJ had one of the most unique doubles that you will ever see,” Raisbeck said. “He qualified in the 55 hurdles and the pole vault, which is quite the combo. AJ, of course, is a pole vaulter, but he met the qualifying standard in the 55 hurdles, which is really pretty remarkable. He’s got a lot of versatility.
“In the hurdles, we weren’t expecting him to make the final or anything. But in the pole vault, he did well. His best is 15 feet and his last attempt at 15 feet, he was over and then he just grazed it coming down. The bar almost stayed up, but it came down. The guys that took first and second were a couple of seniors.”
Senior Thomas Essic qualified for the 3200, but he was sick all week and did not get to compete.
“It would have been rough, so we just held him out,” Raisbeck said. “Based on how the race played out, I think he would have been somewhere in the 7-10 range.
“We took two athletes and got 12th in the team score, which is pretty good.”