The Garfield G-Men track and field team’s absence from the throwing events at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III state meet will only last one season. Junior Riley Grace captured a state bid in the shot put and junior Elise Edwards earned a state berth in the discus throw at the OHSAA Division III regional meet at North Royalton High School last week.
“Especially after seeing all of the hard work that they have put in the past four or five years, they have really just worked together,” said Coach Matt Pfleger. “There is a group of those girl and guy throwers that have been training pretty much year-round together to secure going to the state meet. To see them make it and live to compete another day is great.”
The G-Men duo will compete in the OHSAA Division III state meet throwing events on Friday at The Ohio University’s Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.
“I know that just getting the experience down there is going to help them for next year. They are ready to do stuff down there this year. It is not like they are going down to say ‘Well, we are just happy to be here’,” said the four-year coach. “They are looking to make a wave down at the state meet and get up on the podium.”
The G-Men juniors were each regional qualifiers last year but neither one earned a state qualification as Grace took 13th place in the shot put and Edwards finished in 11th place in the discus.
According Pfleger, the entire throwing program took it personally that there were no throwers to represent the G-Men at the state meet.
“If you look back throughout Garfield’s history at large meets, throwers are always the ones that we can count on for major points,” he added. “To speak about them not making it last year, I think that just made the athletes even more hungry for this year.”
On Wednesday, Grace became a state qualifier when she took fourth place in the shot put with a distance of 36 feet, 4 inches.
Grace advanced to the finals with a throw of 34 feet, 11¼ inches on her first throw, which was one of the nine farthest throws of the competition.
She sat in fifth place entering the finals but rose to fourth place throwing 36 feet, 2¾ inches on her fifth throw and netted a state berth on her sixth attempt, hurling 36 feet, 4 inches.
“She went out and bettered her mark,” noted Pfleger. “She went 34 feet, 2¾ inches and popped the 36 feet, 4 inches – put it out of reach. We knew she would step up if somebody asked her and she would just get the job done.”
Grace now joins a distinguished group of Garfield throwers who have been awarded state berths, following in the footsteps of her older brother Jesse, who took third place in the OHSAA Division II shot put in 2023.
On Friday, Edwards also secured her place at the OHSAA Division III state meet when she took third place in the discus throw with a distance of 131 feet, 5 inches on her first attempt.
That distance put her in third place in the preliminaries, advancing her to the final.
Although Edwards did not better her distance from her first toss, she remained consistent as two of her final three throws each exceeded 120 feet.
“That is probably the best series that she ever had,” Pfleger remarked. “I think she had multiple throws over 120 feet throughout the series and that was just great to see from her, the consistency. She came in and was calm and collected, she hit that first throw. You could see there was a weight lifted after that first throw.”
Edwards also now joins in a family tradition as a state qualifier in the throws, as her older sister, Grace, also earned a state bid in the discus throw.
According to Pfleger, while the Lady G-Men girls still have one more week of competition to worry about, there is also excitement about how they can build on their historic seasons with an additional year of track and field left in their high school careers.
