TL;DR
Maddison Molacek, a standout from Willmar, faced challenges at her first state track and field championship, failing to record a mark in the discus event due to poor weather conditions. Her coach emphasized the importance of resilience, reminding her that she has two more years to compete.
May 8---- Maddison Molacek's first time on a big stage was a rough day.
The Willmar standout reached the state track and field championship meet last season as a sophomore in the Class AA girls' discus. She had to throw in the wind and the rain. The wind, according to Molacek, seemed to kick up every time she walked into the circle.
"It wasn't the greatest weather conditions that day," said Willmar girls track and field coach Brady Krupa. "It makes the discus a little more slippery coming off your hands and I know she kind of struggled to keep that thing inbounds."
Each of her three throws ended up as scratches. Molacek left her first state meet without getting a mark on the board, let alone placing.
"It was kind of a hard day mentally," Krupa said. "I kind of let her have five minutes and I talked to her and said, 'We're only sophomores, right? We got two years of this. We got two more years of having fun.'"
That dour state experience has become a turning point for Molacek.
"I just look back at it where I keep it as a chip on my shoulder," Molacek said. "I don't ever want to feel that ever again."
Now a junior, Molacek has emerged as one of the top discus throwers in the state at the midway point of the season.
Molacek threw a personal-best 142 feet, 4 inches at the Hamline Elite Meet on April 24. That mark stands as the best in Class AA and the second best in the state.
Forest Lake's Alexis Fahey owns the best girls' discus throw statewide at 161-0. Then there's Molacek, followed by Fergus Falls' Brook Zierden at 142-0 and Stewartville's Ella Theobald at 140-6. Theobald is the defending AA champion.
No other throwers have beaten 140 feet yet this season.
That personal-best came on Molacek's first throw at Hamline. She figured it was an OK throw, somewhere around 130, when it hit the ground.
"I walked out of the ring and I kind of had my head down," Molacek said. "In my mind I was like, oh, it wasn't a very good throw but it's fine. We have five more. It'll be OK."
Then came the announcement.
"I heard the guy say 142-4 and I just lit up," Molacek said. "My hands went over my mouth and I almost cried. I just saw my mom and dad running at me and trying to give me a hug.
"It was so surreal. I did not expect it to be my PR at all."
She stayed near that mark on two more throws, hitting 142-1 on her second and 140-4 on her fifth attempt.
Molacek made up for missing her mark on the big stage last season.
"Her face lit up and it was awesome," Krupa said. "It's one of those reasons why you coach, to see kids hit that great PR and you see their face light up. It just makes their whole meet and they can just go chase more PRs."
Molacek's goal going into this season was to be consistently good. To achieve that, she puts herself through plenty of mental reps.