Set for final throws

Maria Murphy has won every regular-season meet she’s competed in over the last two years.
She owns five sectional championships and a regional title.
Now her career comes down to six throws with two major goals still in front of her.
The Jay County High School senior will travel Friday to Indiana University in Bloomington for the third straight season, hoping to end her career with the school record and a medal at the IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals.
“It really means a lot, especially for a field event because you never know,” said Murphy of competing in the state finals in the discus for the third consecutive season. “I’m just real exited. … Hopefully I medal. I know it’s possible. I just need to go down there and do it.
“My goal is to medal, or get the school record, or both. That would be awesome.”
Murphy has shown the capability to reach those goals.
Her best throw in competition was 127 feet, 3 inches, earlier this season, and she has cleared the 130-foot mark in practice. Those numbers, however, haven’t been there over the course of the last two weeks.
Her sectional-winning throw traveled 116 feet, 8½ inches, and her third-place regional toss bumped up to 119 feet, 7½ inches.
But she said she believes she’s ready to be in top form Friday.
“I’ve been throwing with mostly my arms,” Murphy said. “I haven’t really been using my legs. (Shot put and discus) are both real tricky to be good at because they’re both so technical, but now that I’ve been able to focus on discus I’m starting to get my throw back.”
Murphy has been chasing the JCHS discus record — 130 feet, 7 inches, set by Carla Miller in 1982 — ever since finishing as the regional runner-up at Ben Davis as a sophomore to earn he first state berth. And she’s also focused her sights on a top-nine state finish, which would earn he a state medal.
Based on regional results, Murphy enters the state finals as the No. 24 seed out of 27 competitors at 119 feet, 7½ inches.
“I just have to have fun with it,” Murphy said of what she needs to do to accomplish her goals. “It’s my last time going to state. I can’t go there and be all stressed out about it. I have nothing to lose, so I just need to go out there and have fun and enjoy myself …
“I know I can break (the school record). I just need to do it. Friday is definitely my last chance.”
Sonya Napariu of New Palestine is seeded ninth at 132 feet, 2 inches. Teammates Demara Compton (144 feet, 10 inches) and Adriana Brown (144 feet, 2½ inches), who finished first and second ahead of Murphy at the Ben Davis regional, are the favorites.
"As soon as the first round of throws goes, the seeds don't mean anything,” said JCHS coach Brian McEvoy, noting that he believes Murphy can make the medal stand. “Once it goes, the seeds get erased.
"I would like to see her win her flight at the very least and have one of her best throws. Hopefully we can get the one in there that can match what we know she's capable of doing. That would be a big goal — on that day to be able to throw as well as we know she can throw."
Murphy, who will compete for the University of Dayton next season, won her first sectional discus title as a freshman. But her true breakthrough came with her second-place regional finish as a sophomore.
Over the course of the next two seasons she went undefeated through the sectional meet in both the shot put and discus, and won the discus regional title during her junior year. Her sectional championships in both events each of the last two seasons have helped lead Jay County on its run of three straight team titles.
Murphy jumped up to 15th at the state finals last season after finishing 26th as a sophomore, and McEvoy said he hopes her extensive state experience will give her an edge this time around.
“She knows the pressure of it and how it's set up,” he said. “It's completely different than any kind of high school set up. ... This isn't her first time through here, so she's got to use that to her benefit."[[In-content Ad]]