The first time Ridgeview's Johnny Carter triple-jumped in a competitive meet, just before his ninth-grade year, officials told him to jump off the closest board to the jump pit, thinking he'd need the help just to reach the sand.

Instead, he nearly went out the back of the pit and into a fence.

"I almost went over the fence," Carter said. "I wasn't supposed to jump that far."

The last time Frontier's Matt Darr threw a shot put in a competitive meet, he surpassed 63 feet four times and ended his throwing career with another CIF state championship at Clovis-Buchanan's Veterans Memorial Stadium.

"It's such a cool place to throw at Buchanan," Darr said. "You're down on the field and all the spectators are above you, watching you. There's no other place like it."

Two athletes in disparate events, one just starting a promising track and field career and the other ending his to focus on football.

But opposites attract, and Carter and Darr are The Californian's Boys Track and Field Co-Athletes of the Year.

Carter, now a junior, led the state in the long jump (24 feet, 5 inches) and triple jump (50-10), and though he settled for second-place finishes at the state meet in both events, he scored 16 team points by himself, third-most of any boys athlete in the state.

"I expected more, but it wasn't disappointing," Carter said. "It was a good experience, and I had more competition than I believed. I didn't expect to take second, but it felt pretty good to get it in both."

He also won double SWYL and double area championships.

"It's just always something I could do," Carter said. "Coach Kim (Jenkins, Carter's club coach) saw potential with me. He said nothing was impossible, and I trusted his word."

Darr, meanwhile, had to work around a busy football schedule -- he punted in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio in January -- before beginning training, and around several injuries during the season. He defended his shot put title with a personal-record 63-9.75 in the state finals but settled for fifth place in the discus after winning the event last year.

"I threw that PR (194-11) in the discus early on, and I never got to that again," Darr said. "I was kind of chasing it, and I had to deal with different injuries."

But despite a sports hernia that made the discus painful, Darr won his third state title in two years. Now, he'll walk away from the sport to concentrate on punting for Fresno State's football team. Darr, initially a USC verbal commit, was the nation's No. 1 punter in the class of 2010.

"I think it put more pressure on me in track," Darr said. "I got started late because of the Army Bowl. Plus, junior year, no one expected me to win, and to come away with both titles was pretty amazing. I had to get myself back to the same mindset."

He came close, and that led to another year as one of the state's most powerful throwers -- even if it was his last.

"It's kind of nice to be able to know that chapter is kind of closed in my sports history," Darr said. "I definitely hope someday to be able to give back to the sport. I got so much out of it."

Carter's story might just be beginning. He won a surprise triple-jump state title as a freshman, battled injuries last year and still took second and then was a double runner-up this year. The natural progression would lead you to believe he'd want to go back to winning titles before heading off to college and beyond, but Carter has even bigger things in mind -- like, perhaps, the state record of 53-6.5 in the triple jump or 26-4.75 in the long jump.

"I'm really concerned with getting my name in the record books," Carter said. "I won state already and felt the glory, and it'd be nice to do it again, but I think I can move on and aim higher and set my standards higher."