Fox Chapel thrower fights through finger injury to get his hands on PIAA berth

By: Josh Rizzo
Saturday, May 18, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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Mason Miles never stopped looking for ways to be more comfortable. The Fox Chapel senior was injured during the first track meet of the season, hyperextending his finger when throwing the shot put.

“My pointer finger hyperextended, and I decided to push through the meet,” Miles said. “I kept doing it repetitively. It kept hurting and hurting. It swelled up. I thought it was going to go away after the swelling went down, but the pain stayed there.”

Miles, who had to rebound from an injury last season, quickly worked on ways to manage the pain and pursue his goal of making the state championships. At the WPIAL Class 3A championships May 15 at Slippery Rock University, Miles’ first throw was a personal best of 57 feet, 0.25 inches, moving him into second place and punching a ticket to the state meet.

While Miles’ finger healed, he could practice by throwing the girls’ shot put. He also worked with trainer John Panos to wrap his finger to alleviate the pain.

“I thought for a week or two that I should stop throwing and rest my finger,” Miles said. “My coaches, mom and dad were like, ‘You have to push through it.’”

Miles was one of a group of Fox Chapel athletes to punch their tickets to the PIAA championships. Anna Troutman was the Foxes’ top finisher. She qualified for the state championships for the second straight year by winning the high jump with a leap of 5-5.

Claire Conti also qualified for states for the second year in a row by placing second in the discus with a throw of 119-2. Rowan Gwin placed fourth in the 1,600-meter run and set a school record with a time of 4:11.51 to clinch a bid to states.

Fox Chapel’s 400 relay team— consisting of Anna Kintner, Alyssa Quakenbush, Taylor Wilkinson and Troutman — finished with a time of 49.50 seconds and placed seventh.

Miles feels confident heading into the state meet. His goal before the season was to hit 58 or 59 feet in the shot put.

He’s hoping he can have another big throw to lead things off, just like he did at WPIALs.

“My first thought at WPIALs when I stepped into the ring was to be athletic,” Miles said. “I knew my athleticism would take me along way. I wanted to be athletic and don’t think about it as much. On my first throw, I got it out there. The other throws I was pushing it a little too much. That changed up the trajectory of my throws, which made the throws shorter.”

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