One goal remains

Gabi Bilbrey has accomplished a lot of the goals that throwing coach Brian Miles silently set for her.

Break the school record: She surpassed Carla Miller’s record of 130 feet, 7 inches, set in 1982 with a throw of 132 feet, 8 inches, in her second meet of the season.

Conference champion: Her throw of 124 feet, 11.5 inches, narrowly beat Lauren Reiff of Bluffton who threw 124 feet, 6 inches, at the Allen County Athletic Conference meet.

Sectional champion: Her throw of 140 feet, 6 inches, shattered her school record, set a sectional record and dominated the field.

Regional champion: 128 feet, 1 inch, was enough to crown her the champion.

Only one goal remains. Medal at state.

The senior from Jay County High School will have the opportunity to complete that goal Saturday when she travels to Bloomington to compete in the discus at the IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals on Saturday hosted by Indiana University at Robert C. Haugh Complex.

“I want to medal more than anything,” Bilbrey said. “I want to perform the best that I possibly can to the best of my ability. I just want to compete. … That’s been my dream for my whole high school experience.”

Bilbrey is seeded 11th out of 27 competitors. Each athlete will get three throws in the preliminary round, with the top 10 advancing to the finals. The top nine throwers will earn a state medal.

While Biblrey’s regional throw only netted her the 11th seed at state, seeds eight through 11 are all within 6 inches of each other, including Reiff, who is seeded 10th with a distance of 128 feet, 2 inches.

Last year, Bilbrey was seeded 24th for the state competition. She placed 15th with a throw of 116 feet, 6 inches.

This year, she’ll be prepared for the ring conditions, which she said were slicker than she was used to last year. During the week, her coaches took a five gallon bucket and splashed water over the ring. Coaches continued to apply water as the spots she turned on dried up after a couple of throws. The practice has helped Bilbrey adjust her release and prevent slipping.

Despite the new way of practicing, she also noted that she was making the effort to not overdo her training throughout the week.

“Now I understand that I need to trust my ability and not try to cram a bunch of incredulous training the couple weeks before state,” Bilbrey said. “Do what I know and try not to get in my head.”

To reach her goal at the state meet, she will need to be consistent. Bilbrey said it would be ideal for her first throw to be in the high 120s to relieve her of the pressure of making the finals.

From there, she will be able to speed up her throws to aim for further distances.

“Consistency is the key,” Miles said. “Early on in her career, her sophomore year she had an inconsistency problem where she would scratch two of her three throws and then you really put the pressure on yourself. If we can get one out there early, a good mark that takes a lot of that pressure off of you.”

Bilbrey is also happy that she will be a part of the second flight this year, so that she can watch half of her competition before she ever has to throw.

As she gets ready to compete in her final high school event, JCHS coach Joe Imel reflected on her growth as an athlete over the past four years.

“It’s huge just to see her progress and develop not only in track but as a three-sport athlete,” Imel said. “You can still be really, really good at every single sport and be a three sport athlete. …

“A lot of the girls have been working hard their whole career. There are only 27 girls in the whole state of Indiana. When you think about that, it’s a pretty elite group.”