Jacksonville freshman Camerer reaches state in discus after thumb injury
A thumb injury and freshman nerves did not stop Malin Camerer from throwing Jacksonville into the IHSA state discus field.
Malin Camerer has already done what many throwers never do in a full high school career: the Jacksonville freshman earned a state berth in the discus before her first season was finished.
That breakthrough came at the Springfield Southeast sectional on May 14, where Camerer advanced out of a pressure-filled field and moved on to the Illinois High School Association girls state finals. For a first-year athlete, especially one balancing softball and track, the result signaled more than one good throw. It showed she could handle a measured event where technique, repetition and composure matter as much as raw strength.
The path to Charleston was not straightforward. Earlier this year, Camerer injured her thumb sliding into third base during a softball game, a setback that made the sectional meet feel uncertain going in. Even with that concern, she delivered when Jacksonville needed a qualifier most.
The state meet was scheduled for May 21-23 at O’Brien Field on the Eastern Illinois University campus in Charleston. By reaching that stage in the discus, Camerer put herself among the best throwers in Illinois and gave Jacksonville another postseason presence in a spring already producing state qualifiers in multiple events.
Her success also fits a longer pattern. Camerer was not arriving out of nowhere, but building on a track background that already included middle-school wins in Jacksonville and strong work in the throwing events. She had previously been part of a Jacksonville Middle School girls program that featured her as an eighth-grader, when she set a new JMS eighth-grade discus record with a toss of 107 feet, 2 inches. She also placed seventh at state in the shot put, a sign that her throwing ability has developed across events, not just in one discipline.
For Jacksonville, that matters. A freshman who qualifies for state changes the ceiling for what younger athletes in the program can imagine. It also suggests the school’s throwing pipeline is producing athletes who can move quickly from local success to sectional pressure and, now, to the state level. Camerer’s early jump is the kind of result that can shape a program’s next few seasons, not just its current one.
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