Women’s Track & Field: Giger earns a spot on U.S. Junior Pan American Team

Lena Giger garnered a second-place finish at the U.S. Outdoor Junior Nationals this past weekend at TrackTown USA at historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. That prestigious finish earned the 2014 Highland High School graduate a coveted spot on the U.S. Junior Pan American Games Team.

“This weekend was a very fun meet,” said Giger, who is attending Stanford University on track and field scholarship. “I had the hammer competition on Friday morning and shot put that afternoon. Since the top two places go on to make the U.S. Junior Pan Am Team, that was essentially my goal. Going into the competition, I figured that I had the best chance of making the team in the hammer, but there was definitely a chance in both events.”

Giger admitted that the hammer throw started out rough due to some technical changes that she had been making, but she still entered the finals sitting in fifth.

On her fifth throw, HHS’ three-time IHSA Class 2A state champion in the shot put moved into third once she and her coach ironed out some technical issues. On her final throw, Giger threw 56.55 meters (185 feet, 6 inches) to climb the ladder another rung into second, and she was only 6 centimeters (3 inches) behind first.

“There were four more throwers to follow my throw, so it became a nervous waiting game to see if anyone could bump me out of the top two spots, but luckily, my throw held strong and I finished in second and made the U.S. Junior Team,” she said. “After making the U.S. Youth Team two years ago, one of my main goals for this year was to make this team. I am ecstatic, as well as honored, to be able to represent the red, white and blue again.”

Giger said that her freshman college season was both exciting and frustrating. After redshirting the indoor season due to a knee surgery in November, she started the outdoor season strong out of the gate with a personal-best throw in the hammer at 57.37 meters (188 feet, 3 inches). That mark was also a Stanford freshman record.

Giger has been close to that a few times since, but she has not been able to better it. On the other hand, her performances in the shot put have really taken off since April. She had a few meets where she threw personal records. She ended up throwing her current personal record of 15.83 meters (51 feet, 11.5 inches) at the Pac-12 Championships to take fourth place overall.

Giger will be heading home to Highland for a week before heading back to Stanford for some additional training. Then, it’s off to Edmonton, Canada, at the end of July to compete with Team USA to compete in the Junior Pan American Games.

“I am super stoked for one final meet in Edmonton, Canada, to cap off my freshman year,” Giger said. “I’m looking forward to what the next month holds for me, and hopefully with this extra month of training, I can finally throw that PR that I’ve been trying for.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 3:01 AM with the headline "Women’s Track & Field: Giger earns a spot on U.S. Junior Pan American Team."