Kahanic A True Pro

ENUMCLAW, Wash. - The top 15 professionals turned out for the Highland North American Championships last weekend in suburban Seattle.

Nick Kahanic proved he belonged.

Buoyed by a strong effort on Sunday, the Falconer native, who placed 10th a year ago, improved to fourth this time around and came away with nearly $2,000 in prize money in the two-day event.

Kahanic, who was the North American amateur champion in 2013, was third in the open stone and fourth in the sheaf toss on Saturday, but struggles to 11th place in both the heavy hammer and the heavy weight for distance. By day’s end he had accumulated 38 points.

“I was pretty disappointed after the first four events,” Kahanic said. “I thought I could have been second or third, and I was sitting in eighth. I wasn’t real happy.”

On Sunday, though, Kahanic had reason to smile, placing fifth in the light hammer, fifth in light weight for distance and first in the braemer stone.

“When you win the event,” he said, “you get to take extra throws. I took an extra and threw 40 feet, 1 inch.”

He followed with throws of 40-3 and 40-7.

“I got better and better every throw,” he said. “I carried that momentum into the challenge events.”

The challenge, or championship, events included the sheaf toss, the caber and weight over a bar. Despite already competing in nine events, Kahanic shined in his final three, placing second in the sheaf toss, winning the caber and placing fourth in the weight over the bar.

“Now I have the North American caber championship,” he said. “That’s kind of the signature event. It’s a really cool one to win.”

The trip to the Pacific Northwest was the second in as many weeks for Kahanic. At the Portland Highland Festival on July 18-19, he placed fourth overall.

Next on his agenda is a trip to Fergus, Ontario, the site of the largest Highland Festival in Canada. Kahanic will be one of two Americans in the field that is scheduled for Aug. 8-9.