Lancers’ senior discus thrower is turning heads
T.O. track star is a favorite to win state
By Stephen Dorman
Special to the Acorn

SPIN CONTROL-Thousand Oaks senior Margaret Giuffre is one of the best discus throwers in Ventura County, and that includes the boys. A few weeks ago, Giuffre shattered the school's 14-year-old school record by over 27 feet.

Not since Marion Jones was setting national high school sprinting records in 1992 has a Thousand Oaks track and field athlete garnered as much attention as current discus thrower Margaret Giuffre.

Just a few weeks ago, Giuffre, a senior, established a new school record in the discus throw with a personal best mark of 155 feet, 11 inches. That mark not only surpassed Jeannine Shannon’s 14-year-old school record for T.O. girls by over 27 feet, but it also exceeded Ken Haefliger’s boys’ record of 155 feet, eight inches set in 1987.

If those numbers aren’t impressive enough, consider this: only two boys’ discus throws in all of Ventura County—Carleton Gillespie of St. Bonaventure and Evan Meikle of Royal—have thrown for over 155 feet so far this season.

"She’s the best thrower I’ve ever had to coach, for both boys or girls," said Haefliger, a seven-year Lancer throwing coach. "Her overall dedication and natural athleticism has made her No. 1 in the state and third in the nation right now. As a coach, you get lucky when you get an athlete like that."

From the time Giuffre joined the Thousand Oaks track and field team during her freshman season, Lancer coaches knew they had a special talent on their hands, admits head coach Robert Radnoti. And after her inaugural season, the coaching staff decided to test their star athlete by having Giuffre compete in the Penn Relays—a prestigious East Coast event—during her sophomore season, where she finished sixth overall in the discus.

"She’s always really been very good for her level," said Radnoti. "While her marks in (the Penn Relays) weren’t up around 155, it kind of gave us an indication of her competitive instincts."

Following her promising sophomore season, Giuffre transferred to Tehachapi High, located south of Bakersfield, to live with her father.

"I was planning on staying there until I graduated, but things just didn’t work out," said Giuffre.

When she tried out for Tehachapi’s track and field squad in early 2004, Giuffre recalls being just another face in the crowd. There were no heavy expectations to live up to, no talk of previous accomplishments, nothing.

But things sure changed in a hurry.

"As we started throwing they were like, ‘Wow you throw pretty far,’" remembers Giuffre. "And I was like, ‘Yeah, you know, I have a couple of good marks.’ Then the first meet came around, and I got their school record, and they were all in shock."

In her only year at Tehachapi, Giuffre earned a fifth-place finish at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state championships in Sacramento. After that, she decided to move back to Thousand Oaks to finish her high school career as a Lancer. It was a decision that not only affected the young thrower, but one that left an indelible mark on Haefliger as well.

"I pretty much came back to coach when I found out she was coming back because I wasn’t sure if I was going to," recalled Haefliger. "I work construction and stuff so, you know, it’s kind of hard sometimes getting (to practice)…When she called me, I was stoked, of course. So I decided to try and dedicate myself to this as best I can."

Back in a familiar environment and reunited with her coach, Giuffre’s senior campaign has taken off despite an early-season disappointment that saw her finish, and this is not a misprint, in second place in the discus during the Don Green Memorial in early March.

It was an unexpected setback that taught Giuffre a valuable lesson in athletics—on any given day, even the most talented athlete can be beaten if they don’t fully concentrate on the task at hand.

"That’s why I want to get better than I am right now," said Giuffre, who’s currently weighing college scholarship offers from Washington State and New Mexico. "Because I know that even though I might be ahead right now, people can always catch up to you. I want to get a lot better so that doesn’t happen to me again."

Nobody was better throwing the discus than Giuffre at last weekend’s Arcadia Invitational, one of the most prestigious high school meets in the country, where she took home first-place honors with a mark of 150 feet, seven inches. That win has firmly entrenched Giuffre as the female thrower to beat come the state championships in early June.

"She should be one of the favorites, obviously," said Radnoti. "But it’s going to depend on the conditions at that time and the ability to peak people at the end. We’re hoping that she still has a lot to go, because while you see her winning by 12 or sometimes 40 feet right now, the whole theory in track and field and throwing is to peak at the end of the season. And that’s what we’re trying to gauge her for."

Judging Giuffre’s recent performances, it’s appears the season is shaping up just as she anticipated it would several months ago when she told herself she wanted to become a state champion.

"I like to win. It feels good," said Giuffre. "The more you win, the more you like it, and the more you want to keep doing it. It’s good to have goals in sports because it helps keep you in check."