TRACK AND FIELD: Cass' Fale, Scott, Griffin gear for State Finals

Jun. 2—WALTON — Lewis Cass has three competitors in this weekend's IHSAA Track and Field State Finals.

Senior Izaac Fale will compete in the discus in the boys meet Friday. Senior Liberty Scott will compete in the 100-meter hurdles and 300-meter hurdles and freshman Aftin Griffin will compete in the 400-meter dash in the girls meet Saturday. The State Finals will be held at Robert C. Haugh Track & Field Complex on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.

Having three representatives is impressive accomplishment for a school with an enrollment of 413.

"They're a really hard working group," Cass coach Megan Mannering said. "I think having a small group sometimes can be an advantage because you just get kids who are really into it and really excited. I credit these three for working really hard not only on the track but in the weight room. Liberty and Aftin are great students as well. I'm not Izaac's coach but I'm pretty proud of what he's done for the team as well."

Mannering coaches the Cass girls team and Jeff Jones and Matt Benner coach the Cass boys team.

Here are state finals preview capsules for the three Kings:

Izaac Fale

The discus event gets underway at 3 p.m. Friday.

Fale advanced with a third-place finish at the Warsaw Regional with a throw of 144 feet, 4 inches. He placed eighth in the shot put with a throw of 47-0 1/2.

He swept titles a week earlier at the Kokomo Sectional with a throw of 153-7 in the discus and 50-11 1/4 in the shot put. He would have advanced in both events with those throws at the regional, but he was happy to just get out in the discus.

"Regional was pretty underwhelming. I got pretty lucky and made it through in discus," he said. "No one did well there. It was just not a day for anybody, I guess.

"It was a little cold and the wind was strong from the wrong area. It messed a few people up and definitely the nervousness got to a lot of people."

Fale was still able to reach his main goal of the season and that was making it to state.

"I've been wanting to do this since the end of last year," he said. "I put it towards my goals of making it to state. I don't really care how I place at state, I just really wanted to make it there and be one of the top throwers out of everybody in the state. I just worked for it all summer, all winter, all spring, I just put my mind to it and really dedicated myself to making it to state. I'm just glad I'm here and able to participate."

Fale made big improvements to his throwing over the last year or so.

"The technical aspect of me throwing has dramatically increased, crazily," he said. "And I've gotten a lot stronger, worked out every single day for the past year and a half. I think that really has helped me as well because you have to be strong as well as having good form."

Fale recently signed to throw for the IUK men's track and field team.

"I'm pretty excited. The coaches and people there are awesome," he said. "From what I've met from them and talking to them about, I feel welcomed and I think it's going to be a great experience for me."

Fale is originally from Marshall, Indiana before he moved with his family to rural Logansport in the fourth grade.

"I used to live down in Marshall, Indiana which used to go to Turkey Run High School which is now Parke Heritage," he said. " We moved here for family and it was a great decision because I enjoy it a lot actually."

Liberty Scott

Scott advanced to state for the third straight year in the hurdles.

Last year she placed 15th in the 100 hurdles in 15.04 seconds, matching her regional championship time, and placed 19th in the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.99 seconds.

As a sophomore she placed 18th in the 300 hurdles at state with a time of 47.07 seconds.

Scott's senior year of sports has been challenging. She missed most of her senior season of cross country last fall with a foot injury and had surgery to remove a bunion on her right foot this winter.

She has not been able to match her times this season and was not expected to make state, but she placed third in both the 100 hurdles (:15.64) and 300 hurdles (:46.65) at the Goshen Regional to advance in both events.

"I was really happy with my performance. I think I had something to prove so I think that helped me mentally," she said. "I compare this year to more sophomore year because I had something to prove. I wasn't ranked to move on in either of them, especially not in the 100. My goals are to have fun, this is my last year, I'm really thankful to be able to move on."

Coach Mannering is impressed that Scott was able to make state a third straight year.

"Liberty worked really hard to get back after foot surgery. She went pretty hard in the indoor season just to get back in the rhythm of hurdling because that's a lot of what it is," she said. "She has experienced a little bit of shin pain but she's really pushed through and done everything and more to try to help alleviate that: icing and changing some things at practice to make sure she could be up to speed.

"I also credit some of the underclassmen for being able to push her a little bit this year. I think it would have been hard if it had been just her. But we took an experiment of just running fast and I think it paid off. She's a great hurdler so I knew that would come back in no time. Regionals is when it all finally pieced together which is what you hope for."

It took some time for Scott to find her groove this season.

"I struggled a little bit with the speed work," she said. "But I think it helped me a lot to overcome that adversity. It definitely taught me a lot of life lessons about working hard and staying true to your workouts and your training and trusting your training."

Scott, who is from Galveston, will run at DePauw University next year as a hurdles specialist.

"Last year I would have considered the 100 my favorite but this year I've definitely been enjoying the 300 and working on that. I'm excited for the 400 hurdles next year," she said.

The 100 hurdle trials get underway at 5:15 p.m. Saturday. The 300 hurdles get underway at 7:20 p.m.

Aftin Griffin

The freshman phenom from Galveston has burst onto the scene this year in the sprinting events after focusing mainly on distance as a middle schooler.

She rebroke her own school record in the 400 dash with a time of 58.05 seconds to place second at the Goshen Regional.

"I thought I ran really well that day, at least in the 4," she said. "I was feeling good for the 4 and I just think it was a perfect day to run. The weather was great, it was so nice."

Griffin placed eighth in the 200 at the regional with a time of :26.86 against a loaded regional field.

"I really wanted the 2 but that just wasn't going to happen for me that day," Griffin said.

She said the 400 has been the perfect distance for her to utilize her sprinting ability and her stamina that she shows in cross country. She missed advancing to state in cross country by 26 seconds last fall at the New Prairie Semistate. She also has talent in basketball and led the Lady Kings in scoring at 7.9 ppg as a freshman.

Her best sport is track and she's just scratching the surface for what she can accomplish as she didn't even run sprints last year.

"I did the mile instead of the 4 because I'm a distance runner too so I thought the mile would be really good for me," she said. "But I'm so glad I switched to the 4.

"I'd say the 4 will probably always be the best just because doing cross country helps with that, I think. I was really good at the 2 this year, too, but I think there's more competition in the 2 so I think the 4 is what I'm best at."

Her time of :58.05 has her seeded 14th in the event. She will run in the second of three timed finals.

"I want to get another PR of course," she said. "I want to try to be in the 57s. I think the place will just come with that if I run a really good time."

Coach Mannering is impressed with Griffin's quick ascension at the varsity level.

"Last year Aftin made the middle school state meet which was pretty cool. She's obviously a great distance runner but she came into track season and said 'I really want to sprint.' I'm a sprinter so that fired me up," Mannering said. "This is her first year running the 400. Also what's pretty cool is her mom [Corinna Stilwell] was a 400 runner and ran at state in the 400 at Pioneer, so that's pretty neat for the family as well."

Stilwell was the first Pioneer girl to ever make the state meet in 1984 as a junior and placed 15th with a time of :59.19.

"I'm already beating her times," Griffin said. "She wanted me to though. She was like 'come on!'"

The 400 gets underway at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.