Rebecca Eacker’s senior year in athletics hasn’t gone exactly as planned, unless you can plan to pop a knee ligament, then pop a few big throws not even three months later.

Add in Eacker’s relative inexperience in track and field, and what she’s done this spring at Flathead High School is even more impressive: She owns the best discus throw in Class AA and the third-best mark in the shot put, heading into the Western AA Divisional today and Saturday at Legends Stadium.

Let’s back up. In early January, in practice leading into Flathead’s second week of girls basketball games, Eacker’s left knee went off-line.

“What I did was I stepped off my foot wrong and felt a pop,” the senior said. “I sat out, and then went to the trainer, and she said go to the doctor and get it checked out.

“It was a torn ACL.”

That injury is generally not just a season-ender, but a year-ender. In Eacker’s case it neither ended her basketball season — she played three games at the end, including Senior Night — nor track and field.

“My knee isn’t really that unstable,” she said. “The doctors said, ‘If you want to continue playing, get the brace and we’ll see how it goes.’

“I’m still on a brace right now. The plan is to get surgery over the summer. I just wanted to finish my senior year of sports.”

Eacker, 6-foot-1 and lanky, is a relative novice in track and field. There wasn’t much opportunity for the sport at her middle school (Trinity Lutheran) and when Flathead’s coaches first approached her it was a non-starter.

“”I went up to her at a basketball game her freshman year,” said Dan Odgen, who before becoming the throwing coach at Flathead was a standout at his alma mater. “She was next to a couple friends. Later she told me, ‘I thought you were just weird and creepy.’

“Now, I’m still weird. But I don’t think she thinks I’m creepy.”

It still took until her sophomore year — “That was really just Coach Dotson not leaving me alone until I said I would try it,” she said — to come out to the oval.

“I ended up loving it,” Eacker said. “I’m really glad I tried it.”

“I was persistent,” said Charlie Dotson, now in his third season as head coach of the Flathead girls. “Really, this is truly her second year. And she’s throwing on a 100-percent torn ACL.

“I’m curious, if she was on a healthy knee and had four full years, to see how far along she’d be.”

As it is, she’s surprisingly far along. Take the shot put: Eacker had planned to concentrate on the discus this spring, and threw the shot just to throw it in Flathead’s first meet. On her first attempt she marked a personal-best.

“She didn’t even go full-spin,” Ogden said. “She was one of the only girls not doing it — it was basically a step-through.”

“We planned on my throwing shot no matter what, and the basics can be thrown into the discus throw as well,” Eacker ssaid. “I PR’d. Then I glided for fun and PR’d again. We were like, ‘OK, this could go somewhere.’”

She marked 34 feet, 9.5 inches in that first meet, pushed out to 35-3 on April 16, then 36-0, then 36-8 on April 27. Since then Helena’s Aubrie Christman (38-1.5) and Bozeman Gallatin’s Tesse Kamps (38-9) have surpassed her.

Eacker’s best discus throw of 118-5 remains untouched.

“She’s awesome,” Dotson said. “She’s a great kid. She’s really aware of her body movements. I think the coolest thing is how she’s bought into track, which really isn’t her sport. She bought into the weight room, bought into what we wanted to do and really became a leader.”

“Having that knee brace on her left knee is not ideal,” Ogden noted. “But she’s right-handed, and her right leg is her drive leg, and that’s where she gets most of her power.

“She’s a little — not hampered but not completely comfortable. But think about it: She’s only had what, six weeks where she’s been going full-go.”

The marks aren’t earth-shattering, unless you add in her athleticism and potential and the fact there was no 2020 spring sport season because of the pandemic. Some colleges have.

“I’ve talked to a couple of coaches,” Eacker said, mentioning Montana Tech, University of Providence and, lately, Montana State. “I don’t have a dead-set plan, right now. I’m just going to see where the year takes me.”

“She’s long, she’s lanky, and she’s gifted with how she can control her body,” Ogden said. “It’s something you can’t coach, and what she has is what every throwing coach dreams of — that competitive edge and that body control.”

“Oh man,” Dotson said.”I hope she goes to college and gives it a try. She has a high ceiling.”

State is next weekend in Missoula, where this surprising season began.

“I’m definitely excited for it,” Eacker said. “I’ve already qualified in my events. I want to get better than I did two years ago. I’ll aim for first in the discus. And shot put I’m still aiming for first, but I just want to have fun with it.

“State championship is the goal, but I just want to have fun and compete.”

Fritz Neighbor can be reached at 758-4463 or fneighbor@dailyinterlake.com.