Senior Autumn Spencer, two-time Chesterton sectional champion, heads to Portage regional to try to throw a discus that doesn’t come down until it lands her in Indianapolis for the state meet.

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Great Dane.
Chances are you’re thinking of a friendly, massive yet mellow, four-legged creature with a name like Duke, Thor, Zeus, Stretch Cunningham, Spike, Rover or Fido.
To Chesterton senior discus standout Autumn Spencer, the two-word combination has an additional meaning and evokes two other words: Signe Riisberg.
An exchange student at Chesterton from Denmark during the 2021-22 school year, Riisberg was a volleyball teammate of Spencer’s. One waggish remark from Riisberg during a volleyball practice indirectly led to profoundly changing for the better Spencer’s high school experience.
“We were running a lap or something for something and our coach asked her, ‘Are you going to try other sports while you’re out here?’ She said, ‘Yes. Me and Autumn are going out for the track team.’ I said, ‘Heck no, we’re not,’ because I don’t run,” recalled Spencer, who stays in touch with Riisberg.
Spencer still doesn’t run, but she does throw. Does she ever. She is a two-time sectional champion. The worst of her six throws at last Tuesday’s Chesterton sectional was 7 feet longer than the second-place finisher.
The competition grows much stiffer at Tuesday’s Portage regional, but with a good day Spencer has a shot at earning the third automatic spot.
The seed planted by Riisberg took root. Spencer showed up for the track and field callout meeting and was stumped filling out a form when she reached the point where listing an event or events of interest were required.
“I had another friend who was there, and she just told me to put throws down,” Spencer said. “I didn’t know what a shot put or a disc was until I got there (to the first practice).”
A volleyball player from seventh grade through sophomore year, Spencer left that in her past, established a personal best of 119 feet as a junior and matched it this season. Plus, she said, joining the track and field program helped her come out of her shell.
“I’m excited going into regionals,” Spencer said after claiming her second sectional title. “I have a shot.”
The top three finishers at the Portage regional Tuesday automatically qualify for the state meet. From Spencer’s vantage point, it shapes up as a crowded battle for third place, behind juniors Delaney Oberholtzer and Emma Reyes of Lake Central. Both consistently throw longer than the rest and are ranked first and second on the regional performance list, which has all the sectional marks ranked in order.
Heading into sectional week, Spencer ranked fifth in the region on the list of the top throws this season. At sectionals, three more girls from the Portage region had throws longer than Spencer’s 119 PR, so she’s now eighth on the performance list, but in terms of consistency, she’s right there with anybody other than Oberholtzer (144-3) and Reyes (132-9).
Spencer ranked ahead of Morgan Township’s Rebecca Byvoets until the freshman shattered her PR by 10 feet with a 128-4. Spencer routinely has finished ahead of Crown Point’s two throwers, freshman Jayla Hart and sophomore Hannah Hiestand, but they threw longer at their sectional and rank ahead of her now.
“I’m not trying to compete with them anymore,” Spencer said of the Lake Central throwers.
After that, “It’s whoever is having the best day,” Spencer said the night she won the sectional.
Hitting somewhere in the 120s is a realistic goal for her.
“I do it in practice all the time,” Spencer said. And she consistently performs close to that in meets.
Hitting the IHSAA 3 participant standard of 127-3 offers the throwers who don’t finish in the top three a second path to the state meet. Each event at state has 27 entrants, so if there are fewer than three athletes meeting the state standard who didn’t already earn a berth, then the athlete or athletes with the next best marks at regionals will be called back until the field reaches 27.
Spencer has a realistic shot to make it to the state meet at North Central High in Indianapolis, a great way to end a strong high school career.