Beachwood’s Metz basks in memorable weekend

Between prom and an eye for the postseason, the penultimate week of the regular season usually doesn’t deliver much of a high note.

For Beachwood’s Elizabeth Metz, though, in 72 hours she hit all the right notes after being far away from center stage for much of the spring. The freshman won the Miele Invitational on May 5 and the CVC Chagrin meet May 7 in shot put. On the surface, that may not seem like much of a breakthrough. But a closer glance clearly shows otherwise.

“I think I’ve become a lot closer with my team, and seeing them being very, very good, qualifying to state, going to district and regional, I kind of decided, ‘Well, maybe I’ll do my best and try to hit 30 as a baseline,’ ” Metz said.

She did a lot better than that. At Miele, Metz achieved the rarity of winning out of the first flight — typically reserved for the lowest seeds going into an event — with a throw of 33 feet, 3 ½ inches. Then at the CVC Chagrin meet, Metz — with a not-yet-updated seed coming in of 21-7 — took home first with a 35-4.

That 35-4 briefly had Metz with the second-best area throw in girls shot put and finishes the regular season sixth overall but as the best among D-II throwers.

“(The 35-4) felt really good,” Metz said. “I think track and field is a very versatile sport. You see people that are kind of intimidating and better than you, and you see the people that are smaller but mighty. And then you kind of see yourself in between. There were definitely range of sizes and different girls in my event, and to see myself pull that off, I was kind of like, ‘Oh, you’re not that bad.’ ”

During the Nordonia Knight Relays, Metz had the 15th-best throw in shot, 27-5, and at the Poland Seminary Invitational, she was 18th with a 28-4. From not breaking 30 to briefly boasting the second-best throw in The News-Herald coverage area in 2018 is quite an ascent.

Metz credited in part incorporating extra practice time at Beachwood on Sunday afternoons, going into the circle and fine-tuning her craft.

“I think that has (helped), especially kind of having time to myself,” Metz said. “I really see what I need to work on and what I do when I’m alone as opposed to what I do when there are other people watching. So again, that’s kind of the mindset aspect.”

Last spring at the Division II Perry District, a 35-4 would have garnered a solid second — and five of the eight podium placers from 2017 at the D-II AustintownFitch Regional graduated, so it’s possible something closer to the 36-37 range could be in state contention if Metz can get there.

She is commendably keeping an even keel entertaining thoughts too far ahead. But as the Bison begin defense of their D-II state team title from last year, points in the field from athletes such as Metz and Maddie Alexander (high jump) would be massive.

And if going from 20s at invitationals in the regular season to a pair of top10 area best throws in a 72hour span is indicative, it could very well be worth watching this journey play out a little further in 2018.

“I really try to stay humble, because I’m a firm believer there is always selfimprovement,” Metz said. “There is always room to improve. You can always throw farther.

“I don’t really think the sky is the limit. You can always keep pushing yourself. I am confident, because I have kind of found my range I used to throw really, really consistently. But now, like, 30, 31, 33, 35 and all places in between. Now, I think I’m very confident in really getting to know myself in my event. However, I think I have things to improve and things to see for myself.”

Metz