Girls athlete of the week
The Post-Gazette’s top female performer for the past seven days
Last week: Mazzoni broke a 22-year-old meet record in the javelin at the Butler Invitational with a throw of 144 feet, 5 inches. She beat Freedom alumna Ashley Kaufman’s 2002 record by one inch. Mazzoni’s throw was the seventhbest in the history of the WPIAL, according to WPIAL track and field historian Jim Faiella.
Check this out: Mazzoni, a junior, won the WPIAL Class 2A title last year with a throw of 140 feet, 5 inches and took silver at the state meet (1436). She is being recruited by several colleges, including Duke, Princeton and Michigan.
How did you get into throwing? I got into track and field in seventh grade, and COVID took that year away from me. At the time, I was interested in shot and discus in eighth grade and broke a little record. But when I got to ninth grade, I was introduced to javelin. With my softball background, I just wanted to throw it as far as I could and I haven’t put it down since.
You said you broke a little record in middle school. What was it like to break a big record at the Butler Invitational? I was speechless. I couldn’t believe how long that record was sitting there and I was the one who broke it.
How did you develop the technique to throw a javelin? It’s just about trusting yourself and being patient. Those are the biggest things. You just have to follow the process and understand your body and do reps. Obviously you need strength, but you have to feel out the muscles you haven’t used before, get into the motion, bring your shoulder around and have that closeness through your back.
How hard was it to give up softball? It was probably one of the hardest things I had to do. At that point, when I was in 14U, I thought that was my future and I would go to college for it and I was locking it down with softball. But my freshman year, track and field came around, and I thought I would have that on the side. But in the summer, I thought that I could do something with this.
You’re the top returner from the PIAA meet from last year. What’s it like to have the expectations of a state title? The pressure’s definitely on for me, but that’s what I love — the competition. I love the process of it and having to perform in that way. I’ve never been the top anything in Pennsylvania except for this. ... So it’s pretty cool getting my name out there and having colleges and coaches know my name.
Summer is coming. What’s your dream vacation? Oooh, I never really thought about this. Probably someplace in Hawaii. That would be cool. Or Italy. That would be pretty cool, too.