BATON ROUGE – Future lady Tiger thrower Tori Bliss proved to be the star of the Duneland Athletic Conference Championships on Tuesday as she set a national-leading mark in the shot put and set a pair of meet records in leading her team at Portage (Ind.) High School in the annual event held in her hometown.
After setting a new personal record with a throw of 146 feet, 1 inch to take the discus championship, Bliss followed by setting another PR of 49-8 ¾ to win the shot put crown and become the country’s new prep leader in the event for the 2011 season. Her performance shattered her previous PRs of 49-3 ½ in the shot put and 144-2 in the discus that were set just over two weeks ago.
By throwing 49-8 ¾ on Tuesday evening, Bliss eclipsed the previous national-leading mark of 49-7 ½ this season by Sarah Howard of Trinity Christian School in Georgia.
“I’m pretty confident in what I can do right now,” Bliss said. “I’m really looking forward to what I can do at state, where I’m hoping I’ll peak like I did last year. I’m just going to be fine-tuning my technique with the state meet to get near perfect so that I can get some really big numbers.”
Bliss’ winning mark of 146-1 in the discus shattered the longest standing DAC Championships meet mark as Chesterton’s Lisa Naumann held the previous record of 136-6 for 30 seasons since 1981.
“I wasn’t as consistent in the discus as I’d like to be,” Bliss said, as she now has her sights set on breaking the Portage High School record of 151-7 currently held by Sherri Stamper. “I’m just working on getting a little bit better with my technique. I’m really looking forward to the state meet.”
Bliss will now turn her attention toward sectionals next week, before preparing to defend her Indiana state titles in both the shot put and discus at the 2011 Indiana High School Athletic Association Outdoor State Track & Field Championships that will run on Saturday, June 4, at E.C. Billy Hayes Track on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington. In fact, Bliss is actually the two-time defending state champion for the shot put after taking titles as a sophomore in 2009 and as a junior in 2010.