Brownstown’s Avery Koch was seeded fourth in discus heading into Tuesday’s track and field regional meet at Bloomington North. In Koch’s first throw, she launched the disc 135’3″.
It was just Koch’s first throw, and it happened to be the farthest one of the day out of all the competitors in the event.
“I really don’t know,” Koch said, smiling. “It was great, I was super excited.”
The first thing Koch did after completing the throw was turn to her mom in the stands, who had tears in her eyes.
“I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I just made state,'” she said.
As a senior, this will be Koch’s first trip to the state meet. She’s dealt two torn ACL’s in the past, and now in what could’ve been her final meet, Koch surpassed the seeding expectations and extended her final campaign for one more meet.
Koch will be throwing at Belmont University in Nashville, but she still wanted to make the most out of her final prep season.
“I had a lot going for me,” Koch said. “This could’ve been my last meet, but I didn’t want it to be. I kept telling myself, ‘I want to do this, I’m going to do this,’ and I did it.”
Koch also placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 37’6.75″. She just missed qualifying in that event by one spot, but there’s a chance she could get a callback and still compete in the shot put at state.
“I was seeded seventh in shot put, so moving up three seeds was great,” Koch said.
The way Koch felt after winning the discus was similar to the way Seymour’s Brooke Trinkle felt when she won the 1600.
Trinkle, just a sophomore in her first track season, made sure she kept her pace at the start of the race despite knowing some girls will attempt to go out fast.
Trinkle did just that, hanging a couple meters off the leaders for the first two laps. Heading into the final 400 meters, Trinkle started to kick it into gear. She gained the lead and never let it go, sprinting across the finish line to take first place with a time of 5:12.82.
“It was so exciting,” Trinkle said. “I couldn’t even believe it. I just had so many emotions going through my mind. I was just in shock. It was amazing.”
Trinkle’s time was a six-second personal best for her, which just so happened to break the time she ran last week when she won the 1600 in sectionals.
She credits her teammates and getting pushed in practice as to why she’s been able to steadily improve at the right time of the season.
Trinkle knew as she was finishing up her third lap and had one remaining, that if she wanted to qualify for state, she’d have to make a move. The Seymour sophomore was feeling good in the final left, knew she had it in her and just gave it all she had to get the win.
“After I finished, it was just the best feeling ever,” Trinkle said. “This is my first track season. It’s been the best ever. It’s been amazing.”
Trinkle also ran in the 4×800 and 4×400 relay. She qualified for regionals in the 800 but decided to drop out of it to focus solely on the mile.
All Trinkle and Koch will have to worry about come state in a couple weeks is just one event each, the mile and discus, respectively.
It will be the first time both of them will be competing in the state finals for track and field.