Alyssa Mason, 12, of Hebron broke the state discus record for 11- and 12-year-old girls during the USATF Maine State Youth Championship meet at Cony High School in Augusta earlier this month. The seventh-grader-to-be at Bruce Whittier Middle School in Poland competes for the Panther Track Club. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Alyssa Mason first started to throw the shot put and the discus in 2020 for Poland’s Panther Track Club.

She said she wasn’t good at first, but practice and hard work helped the 12-year-old Hebron resident break state and Panther club records in both throwing events this summer as well as earn three state championships at the USATF Maine State Youth Championship meet at Cony High School. 

At the state meet, Mason threw 91 feet in the discus, a new 11-12 age division state record 91 feet, surpassing the previous mark that was set in 1989. 

Mason also broke the shot put state record, throwing 35-01.25, which broke a 10-year-old record However, Mason’s best throw in the shot put came in the meet prior when she launched a throw 35-07. 

Mason also ran a top 400-meter time of 1:08.16 for her third win of the state meet.

‘JUST KIND OF CLICKED’

Mason set lofty goals for herself heading into the summer track and field season. 

“This year when I first started I wanted to break the shot put record for the team,” Mason said, “but it (didn’t happen) until the last week of the regular season — I broke it and it was six inches farther than my throw at states.

“It felt really good. Everything just kind of clicked. When I had a few really good throws, you can pretty much just feel it. When you have a really good throw you can feel it when you release it and on your spin.”

Along with her state record discus throw, Alyssa Mason, 12, of Hebron won the shot put and the 400-meter run during the USATF Maine State Youth Championship meet at Cony High School in Augusta on Aug. 13. Her shot put set another state record. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

The spinning technique that Mason now uses in both the shot put and the discus weren’t always a part of her repertoire. 

When she started throwing in 2020, Mason tried to work on spinning for discus. Last year she implemented the spin in discus at meets for the first time, but in the shot put she would only shuffle and throw, without spinning. 

This summer, after a lot of practice, Mason added the spin to her shot put throws. 

“I had kind of been learning how to do it on shot put, then I did the spin on discus and discus was a lot easier to do the spinning,” Mason said. “I decided to do spins on discus and then after a while it got easier to do the spinning on the shot put.”

HOME WORK

Mason’s work extended beyond track practice. At home, she works on her throws in her garage, where there is a circle for her to throw from and a tarp to throw at.

Her practice has been paying off all year. 

Mason won the shot put in the 11-12 age group at USATF indoor track and field nationals with a throw of 9.71 meters, or a little less than 32 feet in Staten Island, New York, in March.

At the USATF outdoor nationals earlier this summer in New York City, Mason won the shot put in her age group (10.32 meters) and the discus (24.81), both by large margins.

Throwing isn’t Mason’s only interest. The soon-to-be seventh-grader currently is gearing up for cross country at Bruce M. Whittier Middle School in Poland, and she is already a part of Moving ME Forward running group. 

Alyssa Mason of Poland Track Club prepares to throw the shot put at a track meet. Kneka Smith photo

“I am going to be doing cross country this year and I am going to do a few 5Ks, and I am still doing stuff with Moving Maine Forward,” Mason said. “It’s a whole bunch of people where you meet at a place once a week on Tuesdays and you have a workout. Most of the time you do 3 to 5 miles. You do a time trial once a month and you run with the people who run in your time area. You do the workout for that day. Last time it was you had to do a 200, a 400, a 600, a 400 and then a 200 again with a 200-meter rest in between.”

Mason said her fastest 1,500-meter run is about 5:40 and that recently, at a Moving ME Forward practice, she ran a mile on a trail in 6:32. 

Mason also wants to do the pentathlon, which is an event comprising five events, the shot put, 800-meter, 100-meter hurdles, high jump and long jump, in the future. The USATF Junior Olympics offers the pentathlon. 

The 5-foot-3 Mason’s biggest goal is far in the future. 

“I want to make the Olympics,” she said.