PHILADELPHIA – You didn’t even have to look at the circle to know it was her turn to throw. All you had to see was everyone with their phone out. Old Tappan senior Layla Giordano put on a show in the girls discus championship at Thursday’s Penn Relays, launching a season-best 167-10 on her third throw to win the state’s first gold medal in the event since 2004. Delsea’s Jocelyn White threw a 157-3 for N.J.’s first-ever discus title.

“Giordano etched her name in history with an even more towering toss.”

“After my practice yesterday, I was feeling really prepared for this meet,” the 2023 NJSIAA Meet of Champions discus and shot put gold medalist said. “After being here for the first time last year, my goal was to come here and win this meet this year. I was more of a beginner last year because I hadn’t hit the marks yet. I was excited to come back. This was something I wanted for my senior year.”

Giordano came into the meet with considerable momentum numbers-wise.

The Princeton pledge threw a 157-flat at the Bergen County Relays last week, a 164-5 in a dual against Demarest on Tuesday, and then a bomb at yesterday’s practice that according to throwing coach Pete Dunn looked like a 180-footer. “Early on this season, she has been frustrated, but every meet she has been getting better and better,” Dunn said. “It’s tough because she hasn’t really thrown the disc much since last spring. She has been pretty consistent with improving and this has been a goal of hers since last year. She’s pretty much back where she left off last year.”

Giordano ended last spring with her PR 170-4 to win at New Balance Nationals, which is held at none other than the Irving “Moon” Mondschein Throwing Complex – the site of the Penn Relays. The familiarity with the circle was important and it got the 2023 NJSIAA Meet of Champions gold medalist into the throwing style she has thrived in of late. In each of her last two trips to Philadelphia, she has decided on the fly what she wants to do in the circle. That skill been part of what has turned her into an elite thrower.

“Every time I’m here, I always end up not switching or doing a reverse,” Giordano said. “That’s what I’ve been working on lately and what has helped me advance my technique. “You don’t have to rep it a million times with her because she has such good body control,” Dunn added. “She’s able to pick things up quickly. It’s a good sign.”

Giordano has her eyes set on the state record – a 182-flat thrown by Donovan Catholic great Alyssa Wilson in 2017. She’s closing in on it both in practice and competition.  Dunn wanted Giordano to post a number on Thursday with a ‘nice and easy’ throw and then let it rip with five more. She fouled the first one, then made sure ‘nice and easy’ became ‘down the middle’ on her second throw, which it was via a 151-6.

If Giordano opens meets on her first or second throw with a number like that, it gives her plenty of opportunities to chase history the rest of the spring.

“That’s the biggest goal I have right now,” Giordano said of the state record. “At the bigger meets, I’m thinking about it, but I think it will be more in my head at the end of the year.”
“When her ‘nice and easy’ throw is 151, and good enough to get her in the finals at every meet she’s at, that just shows how talented she is,” Dunn added. “That’s an advantage.”

For the complete results from Thursday’s girls discus championship, click here.

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By Ryan Patti | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com