Soaring Eagle wins state titles in discus and shot put

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DRAPER — Juan Diego Catholic High School junior Maile Mataele, 17, took state titles in discus and shot put at the 3A Track and Field State Championships, held May 15-17 at Brigham Young University. She threw the discus a distance of 125′8.0; her winning shot put throw was 36′01.75.

Mataele followed her older brother Kione, who was a senior at JDCHS while she was a freshman, into both events, she said. “He was pretty good, which made me kind of want to do it.”

Competing as a freshman, Mataele did not place in either event. Last year, as a sophomore, she placed fourth in shot put and fifth in discus.

At the beginning of this year, she changed her mindset, she said. Before “It was more of like, ‘Oh, I guess I’m just doing this for fun. I’m kind of good; why not just keep going for it?’ and I thought, ‘I could go somewhere; I could go to college for this,’” she said. “And so that’s when I started training harder, and I began to love it more, because when you put in the work you get better.”

Both events require a focus on individual effort that Mataele finds rewarding, she said. “That’s what I liked, because I play a lot of team sports like volleyball and basketball, and I found it hard to do better because I was trying to do better with my team rather than do better myself. It’s hard to progress as a whole, rather than if you put the work in yourself. In an individual sport, it’s easier to progress and do better.”

Training for discus and shot put requires “a lot of weight training, a lot of lifting and just drills to help me perfect my technique and really get it down,” Mataele said. “And then just watch the throws.”

That focus is a benefit to the team as well, said JDCHS track and field coach Sean Wolf. “Mataele is an awesome kid and an excellent student and athlete. Her dedication and leadership are a blessing to the team and have really paid off for her, as evident by her dual state titles this season. She even now holds Juan Diego’s school record in girls discus from her throws at the state competition, and she’s on track to break the girls’ shot put school record as well. I’m really looking forward to seeing what next season brings for her. Hopefully, some more records, state titles and scholarships to throw in college.”

As a senior, Mataele plans to continue competing in discus and shot put, and hopes to secure a scholarship to BYU, where she would like to study nutrition or dietetics. To qualify for a full-ride scholarship she will need to improve her discus throw by 20 feet and shot put by seven feet, something she is working hard to achieve, Mataele said. “I’d say I’m on track but, you know, anything can happen.”