By JOSH BURRIS
It has been a long time since a Bluffton Lady Tiger track and field athlete got the opportunity Lauren Reiff will get this Friday.
Reiff, a thrower on Bluffton’s team, will take the field in the IHSAA State Meet at Indiana Universtity in the discus event. It will be the first time in 14 years that Bluffton’s girls’ track team will be represented at the state meet.
On the road to state, she was also the ACAC and sectional champion in discus.
Reiff is excited about the opportunity.
“I think it’s pretty big,” the Bluffton junior said. “It’s crazy to be the girl going, but it feels pretty good.”
Reiff earned the trip with a throw of 124 feet 10 inches in the Marion regional meet last Tuesday at Indiana Wesleyan. That placed her fourth, and the top three in the event automatically qualify.
However, those that meet the state standard for their event also get to advance, as well as a handful that receive call backs. Reiff was one of the few that got a call back to advance to state.
Reiff was happy to get the call.
“It was one of my goals from the beginning of the season, so it feels pretty good to have achieved that,” she said.
Reiff placed fourth in last year’s regional meet as well, but did not get a call to advance.
She said she put in extra work over the winter to make sure she could accomplish that goal of making it to state.
“In the winter we worked a lot inside on drill work, and that’s probably everyone’s least favorite thing to be doing, but it’s got to be done,” Reiff said.
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