Chesterton junior Alina Micchia’s steady improvement as a discus thrower has her competing in the regional and closing in on a major milestone: 100 feet

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Not every happy place has the sound of a running brook, nature’s colorful creatures adding to the soundtrack, the sun shining, a gentle breeze blowing.
Everyone’s happy place is different. No two are exactly alike.
Chesterton junior Alina Micchia’s happy place is a circle of concrete, precisely 8.5 feet in diameter, found in many different fields on high school grounds.
“I don’t know,” Micchia said, “I get in the ring and I’m happy.”
That would be the discus ring, last Tuesday the one in Chesterton, this Tuesday the one in Portage, site of a girls track and field regional.
Competing in a sectional for the first time, Micchia placed second in the discus with a personal best throw of 97 feet, 9 inches.
She did not need to hear the measurement hollered to a meet official to know she had nailed it.
“You always know when you have a good throw. It all kind of clicks together, and you feel it, and it's really nice,” she said. “Very rarely, when I have a really good throw, do I feel myself even release the disc. I just feel like my footwork and everything was right, and it was good.”
Alina, daughter of former Chesterton thrower and current Unified Track assistant coach Renae Micchia, started throwing in middle school, but it didn’t start clicking for her until sophomore season.
Her best discus throw as a freshman was 64-11, her best shot put mark 24-3.
Then as a sophomore, her top discus mark stretched all the way to 90-10, the winning throw at the JV DAC meet.
What happened?
“I stopped throwing shot because I had an injury, so I had a lot more time to focus on disc last year,” Mcchia said. “I was always in the disc ring because I didn't throw shot anymore and I had a lot more time to focus on it.”
Plus, the shot put ring never was her happy place. She isn’t nearly as good at it as she is at the disc and she has an idea why.
“I love disc a lot more,” Micchia said. “I enjoy doing it a lot more, and also, I think it's more technique-based. A lot of shot is muscle. Technique is important, but I think disc is more technique-heavy, and I like that better. I don't know, I get it in the ring, and I'm happy. And I like challenging myself, and I, like, always having something to work on, and there's a lot more to work on with disc, I think.”
She is nearing a major milestone: 100 feet in a competition.
“I’m excited to get there,” Micchia said. “Hopefully Tuesday. That would be exciting.”
Micchia is the lone thrower to make it to regionals for the girls team.