Javin Griffin won state titles in both the shot put and discus

Javin Griffin, a senior at St. Martinville Senior High School, made history on Saturday when he took home gold medals in both the discus and shot put at the LHSAA Track and Field State Meet.

Griffin, who has already signed with Mississippi Valley State to continue his football career, was a favorite to win both events after stellar performances at the District 6-3A meet. With a distance of 50-02 in shot put and 142-0 in discus, Griffin was ready to welcome all challengers when he traveled to LSU.

Prior to the start of the shot put, Griffin stood out from the competition for two reasons. The first is that he was the only athlete not taking multiple practice throws with his shot put. The second reason is that, unlike the other laughing and smiling competitors, Griffin looked downright scary with a menacing scowl on his face.

“You don’t want to throw your best throw on a warmup,” he explained. “You focus on technique while you’re doing it… you don’t have to throw your fullest on a warmup, just do a little technique, get used to the ball on your neck, and you’re good.”

Griffin’s focus on technique gave him the state title, but his scowl only dropped for a moment before he hurried off to compete in the discus event. After picking up another top finish, Griffin was all smiles on the podium, encouraging his fellow competitors and beaming with pride from ear to ear.

“I’ve always been like that,” Griffin explained of his happy demeanor after the competition. “You never want to be sad or mad because the good Lord wants you to do his work and spread his love.”

It would be hard to tell, given his performances this season, but Griffin has only been competing with the track and field team for a couple of years.

“During the COVID season, we didn’t have a track team at St. Martinville,” he said. “That was my sophomore year, so I’ve been doing this for two years. I’ve had two years of shot put and one year of discus (at the state meet).”

Griffin credits his success to hard work and having the right motivation.

“It just takes hard work and dedication,” he said. “You have to want to do it and feel like you can do it. Don’t let somebody tell you that you can’t do it, because that happened to me in my freshman year. I started grinding and working and people look up to you when stuff like this happens. I want to put on for my teammates and for St. Martinville, put us on the map.”