COLUMBUS – Quite often an athlete will save its best performance for last.
That was the case in Friday’s finals of both the girls’ Division III shot put and the boys’ Division III discus.
Unfortunately for Leipsic senior Grace Rigel, Newton Falls senior Izzy Kline had her best mark of the day in the shot put, on her very last throw. Kline’s toss of 46 feet, 3 inches gave her the state title, and Rigel had to settle for second.
Rigel’s best toss of the day, 46 -0, came early. However, in the final throw of the finals, Kline bettered her mark by three inches. Earlier in the day, Kline placed fourth in the discus (130-1).
Rigel ends her illustrious high-school career with two second-place finishes and a fourth-place finish in her four state appearances.
“My dad told me at the beginning, ‘That’s not going to win it. You’ve got to have more than that’,” Rigel said. “I had a feeling that I had it, but anything can happen here.”
Heading into her final throw in the finals, Kline’s best mark to that point was 44-9.
“Kudos to her,” Rigel said. “She had a good throw.” Rigel is heading to Miami University to compete in track-and-field.
In the Division III boys’ discus, Waynesfield-Goshen senior Brock Waitman was leading until the final two throws in the finals, with a mark of 163-0.
That’s when Paint Valley senior Travis Burton unleashed two consecutive throws that bettered Waitman’s best of the day. Burton’s best mark was 166-6. Minster senior Max Prenger finished third (160-11).
“I was fortunate enough to be last in the finals. So, I knew what I had to beat,” Waitman said. “I just tried my hardest, but he came out on top.”
Last season, Waitman was a regional qualifier in discus, but didn’t make it out of districts in the shot put.
Earlier on Friday, Waitman finished 12th in the shot put.
“I’m just blessed to be here,” Waitman said. “My goal was to be here – and to be runner-up is great.”
At the end of Day One, Waynesfield-Goshen was sitting eighth in the boys’ team standings
.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
