State track and field: Rania Brown comes through in clutch, wins discus to highlight big day for Avon throwers

DAYTON — Rania Brown was down to her last strike. The Avon junior entered as the No. 1 seed, but was on the verge of not making the final cut in the Division I girls discus competition after her first two throws fell well below her usual distance. On her third attempt, Brown settled in and got the job done, paving the way for her to bring home the state championship at the University of Dayton on Saturday. She won the title with a mark of 151 feet, 10 inches. "I was very nervous," said Brown, who finished third at the state meet last season. "One thing my coach constantly instills in us is ice in the veins. You have one throw to win it all, so might as well make the most of every single throw you have. This is the end of the season for my junior year, I might as well make the most of it. So I threw hard and managed to make it." Avon had a strong day overall. Bridget Bergen finished third in the event with a throw of 143-3, just one inch shy of second place. Bergen's top two throws of 143-3 and 142-2 both topped her previous personal record. On the boys side, senior Luke Hamilton, a Michigan commit in football, took third in the shot put at 58-11.5 and sixth in the discus at 166-4. "It feels really good," Bergen said. "I was hoping for a little better, but I was very happy with how I did. Two PRs in one meet, I don't think I could have asked for anything more. I just had a really good practice yesterday. I felt really smooth and had a really good feeling about it. That kept me in the right headspace. Brown needed to top 125-0 that Avon Lake's Claire Springer posted to win the first flight. Her first two throws weren't even close at 110-5 and 118-1. But on the third attempt, she delivered a 138-3 to make the cut in third place through the preliminaries. She promptly took the lead for good when she delivered a 147-8 on her first attempt in the finals. "I realized I was so afraid of fouling that it was holding me back," Brown said. "I just thought, what's the worst that could happen? I have another year. My first throw I don't remember very much because I was very nervous, and then I just had to attack it, otherwise I was going to lose." Brown was the only one to best Aleeyah Betts' 143-4, the top throw of preliminaries. However, Bergen came agonizingly close to topping the Cincinnati Princeton junior when she threw 143-3 on her opening throw of the second flight. She threw 130-5 on her second attempt and faulted on what would have been a throw of 142-7 on her final attempt. Meanwhile, Brown kept upping the ante during each of her final two throws, first with a 151-3 then with a 151-10. "It's crazy," Brown said. "Even though I'm on top of the world today, tomorrow it's back in the weight room like nothing even changed. But I'm going to celebrate, eat a funnel cake, enjoy the ride home and make my mom get me ice cream, as well. I'm having fun, smiling and going to have a good photo moment with my new medal." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.