Season-capping success

DES MOINES – As the only freshman to qualify for the girls shot put finals, Creston’s Kelsey Fields took home a sixth place medal in her first appearance at the Co-ed State Track Meet Friday.

Fields’ best throw came right out of the gate, launching her opening toss 38 feet, 1 inch.

The toss was just a foot and a half shorter than her season best throw, but it allowed her to qualify for the finals and earn a medal.

“I knew that I would have to throw pretty aggressively today so I just wanted to get my first throw to be one of my good ones so I could get it out of the way,” said Fields.

Not reaching a new personal record on the biggest stage of the year didn’t dampen the Panther freshman’s spirits, bringing home a medal was a simple solution to put the year in perspective.

“It feels great. Yesterday wasn’t too good, but today just it feels really great,” said Fields.

Creston assistant coach Maggie Arnold knew that getting a good throw early was incredibly important to start off the event strong.

“The plan going into today was to be super aggressive on the first throw, get a good one in and just keep rolling from there,” said Arnold. “In the shot put there is a lot of fatigue as the rounds go on so we wanted to make sure we got a really good throw in that first time.”

Throwing the shot put was not a first for Fields, who had thrown in middle school and Arnold and others knew that she had the potential to quickly break in on scene.

Now having seen what Fields has done over her first year in high school, Arnold knows that the foundation has been set for continued success over the next three years.

“Freshman thrower, throwing at this level is really a rarity. The throws are something that normally take two, three, four years to get the technique down,” said Arnold. “She still has a long way to go with her technique so she has a ton of potential still that we haven’t even tapped into so it’s exciting for the next three years.”

As a three-sport athlete, the soon-to-be-sophomore will continue to grow her competitiveness through other avenues, something Arnold thinks will be beneficial for the shot put.

The bar has been set after one season and record-breaking results are on the coaching staff’s mind.

“A goal going forward we are going to really start chasing after that shot put record next year and to re-break her discus record,” said Arnold.