Brentwood junior shot-putter and discus thrower Sophia Rivera again stunned the field Saturday in Jefferson City at the Class 2 state meet. For the third year in a row she won both events.
Rivera won discus with a throw of 154 feet, 9 inches, besting her winning throw last year of 129-11. She won shot put with a new overall state record of 51 feet, 1.25 inches. All six of her throws would have broken the old mark. The previous state record of 47-7.75 was set in 1992, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Rivera told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch she had to calm herself after setting the state mark.
“In the past if I get too excited my form starts to break down,” Rivera told the Post-Dispatch. “I tried to level myself and bring myself back down to earth and keep my form. That way if it happened it would happen.”
Rivera told the Post-Dispatch that every track meet she goes to, no matter how big it is, is an opportunity to improve herself. “It’s not the size of the meet, it’s however good I can do.”
The national high school shot put record is 54-10.75, set in 2003 in Texas. Rivera would have to add almost four feet to her best throw to beat that.
Read the full article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
See also: Sophia Rivera takes gold in national meet – again, Brentwood’s Rivera throws best-in-US shot put
Brentwood junior Jacob Clay took 6th in the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.63. The Eagle’s boys 4×100 meter relay took 5th, with a time of 44.82 seconds.