Will Matthew Rusch Continue His Ascent?
With a stellar performance at the Regionals and Sectionals, Fond du Lac senior Matthew Rusch improved his standing as an all-time great Wisconsin thrower and moved closer to some history. With his throws of 195' 0" in the discus and 69' 6.25" in the shot put, Rusch now ranks #2 all-time in Wisconsin for the shot put and #10 all-time in the discus.
With his new PR's putting him on the verge of the 70 foot shot put and 200 foot discus barriers, Rusch has a chance to make history at the state meet. If he hits 70 feet for the shot put, he will become just the 36th individual nationally all-time to break that barrier. Likewise in the discus, he could become just the 142nd individual to throw over 200 feet.
Even as an all-time great thrower, Rusch has yet to win a state title. Another guy named Ben Smith might've gotten in the way of that. Rusch and Smith will compete against each other in the Division 1 Championships, with both guys being among the top competitors for both the discus and shot put.
Last year, the D1 shot put title went to Ben Smith with a throw of 66' 11.5" and the discus title went to Bryce Ruland with a throw of 201' 11". Rusch finished 4th in both events. He comes into the meet as the top-seeded shot put thrower (by Sectional mark) and the #3 ranked discus thrower.