I don’t know what Briana Danis brought to the discus that no other Astro has, but whoooeee. For the last three years of outdoor every meet result I got was a speed scroll down to see what happened in discus.
2020, we were robbed. In 2021, the discus record was 36 years old. Cara Gibbons ’85 winged the discus an impressive 112′-5.” Her senior campaign was a 3rd at Class L, 2nd at MOC, and 5th in New England. No one would throw within 10 ft of that for 12 years, and no one threw within 3 ft of it until . . . Briana threw it 12 ft *the other side* of the old record. At 127′-5″ she was wa-a-a-ay beyond anything the team had seen before.
In her junior year, Briana hucked the discus to 135′-2″. On the side, her shot put flew out to 39′-5.75″, another school record.
On May 9th of this season, Briana hurled the discus her furthest yet: an eye-popping 137′-6″, now 25 ft past the old record.
So far, she is 3 for 3 in D1 discus titles. She is 2 for 2 in MOC titles. Her only New England’s is a 4th but I think we’ll see another.
Now THIS is fun: Briana Danis improved her school’s record in the discus by 22%.
- Want to do that to Bree Robinson’s 100m? Hope you can run 9.59. Mind you, Usain Bolt’s WR is 9.58.
- OK, maybe distance is more appropriate. Morgan Sansing and her 11:01 in the 3200m? Straight up flight to an 8:35. Mary Cain’s national HS record is like 9:37
- Courtney Walker’s pole vault? This might be the only semi-reasonable one but still, 13′-5″?
- We’ll be nice and use Kim Gillespie’s old shot put record but you still have to get the ball out there over 47 ft!!
So it’s another Astro senior to appreciate, because we’ve never seen anything like it.
18 June 2023 update: On 10 June, Briana took the discus over the next milestone: 140+ ft. The NH Meet of Champions winner threw 140′ – 9″ to establish a standard I may never even see approached. Or, is this the performance that shows future athletes what can be done? Again, the former school record was 112′. I love this. New Hampshire Track and Field named Briana the Athlete of the Week after her Division I double championship that included the shot put. In her final competition as a high school athlete*, Brian traveled to Nike Nationals at Hayward Field in Eugene, OR, easily the premier facility in the United States and the best track and field crowd you’ll ever find. Briana finished 12th with a throw of 136′ – 7″.
Briana is prominently featured in my favorite paper for local sports, the Lawrence-Eagle Tribune.
* – There is probably something to do with insurance or the meet rules themselves behind the reasons why Pinkerton doesn’t allow you to compete as Pinkerton in some meets, but it’s still high school competition.