Top McDonald throwers credit coach

June 3, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

Mary Domitrovich’s guidance has made an impact

McDonald senior Jai’Lyn Mosley doesn’t think she’d be a state qualifier without her throwing coach, Mary Domitrovich, but that doesn’t quite go far enough in describing her impact.

“Without her,” Mosley said, “I probably wouldn’t be a thrower.”

Mosley and her classmate, Tory Ross, will compete in both the shot put and the discus at this weekend’s Division III state track meet, and when Ross was asked how much credit should go to her coach, she said, “I completely give our success to her.

“I do believe that we both have a gift, but without Mary, I don’t think either of us would reach our full potential.”

When junior Christian Smith was asked the same question, he cut off the reporter before he could finish asking it.

“All of it,” he said. “I don’t think we’d be anywhere without her. She’s really where it all comes from.”

Smith enters this weekend’s meet with the best qualifying throw in the discus (by almost nine feet) and the second-best in the shot put.

Mosley is seeded first in the shot put and second in the discus, while Ross is third in the shot and fourth in the discus. A fourth thrower, junior Albert Yates, will compete in the shot put.

This, needless to say, is not normal for one school — particularly one that just graduated the best thrower in school history (Matthias Tayala) three years ago.

“We’re so blessed to have her as a coach,” said Ross, who will throw with Mosley next year at Kent State. “Every meet we just say how lucky we are to have such an amazing coach who is willing to put the time in that she does.”

It’s a good thing Domitrovich’s athletes praise her, because she’s not going to do it herself. Some coaches love the spotlight; she prefers the balcony.

When McDonald’s girls posed for pictures with the district trophy two weeks ago, she stood 50 yards away in the bleachers.

When they got the regional runner-up trophy last week, she stood on the other side of the stadium. (And when a reporter tried to take her picture at that meet, she literally put her hand in front of the camera.)

“She deserves the attention,” Smith said, “regardless of whether she wants it or not.”

When told of her athletes’ comments, Domitrovich smiled and said, “They’re a nice, humble bunch. They work hard, and I know most coaches say their kids work hard, but they come in with a good frame of mind and do what needs to be done. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Mosley finished second in the discus two years ago and both she and Ross have finished in the top eight each of the past two seasons. Before that, Mosley’s older sister, Joh’Vonnie, won a state discus title and finished second in the shot put in 2010. Tayala won both titles in 2011. Domitrovich has coached them all.

In fact, Smith became a thrower after watching Tayala.

“I got hurt in cross country one too many times and it [throwing] always seemed appealing to me,” Smith said. “After I saw Matthias do as much as he did, it fascinated me and I really wanted to try it. So I gave it a shot. My freshman year started off kind of poorly but I got good at the end and I decided that was something I really loved and wanted to stick with.”

Smith placed sixth in the discus at last year’s state meet and his regional-winning throw of 178 feet, 9 inches isn’t far off Tayala’s state meet record of 196-3 from 2011.

“This year he just took off,” McDonald senior runner Bobby Johnson said of Smith. “It’s been amazing to watch him because he’s been a mirror image of Matthias. It’s only been a couple years since Matthias was in school and he’s almost surpassed what he’s done, which is amazing because Matthias is now an All-American at Kent State.”

No one gets to the state track meet without a lot of natural talent, but it takes more than talent to make an All-Ohioan. That, Mosley said, is where Domitrovich comes in.

“She teaches you so much and builds all that talent up,” she said. “It’s on you to show what she’s taught you.”