COLUMBUS — It wasn’t over. In fact, it was just beginning.
Leipsic’s Holly Averesch won the Division III girls state championship in the discus early Friday afternoon in a separated-by-inches battle with Columbus Grove’s Lyne’a Diller at Ohio State’s Jesse Owens Stadium. Then she came back three hours later to win another state championship in the shot put.
Averesch won the discus with a throw of 148 feet, 11 inches, just ahead of Diller, whose best effort went 148 feet. With one championship already in hand, she took the shot put at 43 feet, 4 inches. Daija Young, of Garfield Heights Trinity, was second at 42 feet, 6 inches and Diller was third at 42 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
Averesch, who finished fifth in the discus last year at state as a junior, said she came to Columbus thinking about winning twice. But she also knew competition at this level is unpredictable.
“I was (thinking about two wins) but then I was like, there are a lot of great throwers. You have to be on your game. You have to work toward it and that’s what I did,” Averesch said.
Some of the hardest work she did all day might have been to overcome Diller in the discus.
Diller, who owns one career win over Averesch in head-to-head competition, got off a throw of 148 feet on her first effort in the final round, which put her 2 feet, 2 inches up on Averesch, whose best throw at that point was 145 feet, 10 inches.
But the Columbus Grove junior knew that was not the time to relax. “I said it wasn’t over, it’s not over. And she got me on the next throw. Eleven 11 inches.”
On Averesch’s next time in the circle, she threw 148 feet, 11 inches, which held up for the win when Diller’s last two throws landed at 144 feet, 5 inches and 144 feet, 6 inches.
“I wanted the gold really bad. I was glad she threw one out there so I could push myself even more,” Averesch said.
“She threw her last one and my coach came up to me and said, ‘Congrats,’ and I was like, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘You just won state.’ And I was like, ‘Wow.’ “
Averesch’s win in the shot put was not quite as tense. She already had the top step on the podium wrapped up when she got ready for her final throw. But that last attempt was her best of the day.
“I was winning it but it was like I couldn’t leave here with a that close,” she said.
“It’s awesome,” Averesch said about her two state championships. “My athletic director just informed me this is the first time a girl from Leipsic has been a state champion (in track). It’s like a legacy, I guess.”
Both of the girls throwing events had strong representation from the area.
In addition to Averesch and Diller going 1-2 in the discus, Jackson Center’s Nicole Fogt (127-4, fifth place) and Spencerville’s Shania Johnson (121-4, eighth place) earned spots on the podium. Pandora-Gilboa’s Mackenzie Swary was 11th and New Bremen’s Paige Kuck was 15th.
In the shot put, in addition to Averesch and Diller, Marion Local’s Emily Mescher was sixth with a throw of 38 feet, 10 1/4 inches and Leipsic freshman Grace Rigel was eighth at 38 feet, 2 inches. Minster’s Savannah Luthman was fourteenth at 36-5.
