Mason Finley
Buena Vista High School
Impact Statement
“You have to develop a technique that plays to your tools. It’s all physics. You can’t throw the discus with just heart. It’s speed times power. Energy and all of that.”
Biography
The three-time Class 3A double state champion – in the discus and the shot put – set a national high school discus record April 25 with a throw of 236 feet, 6 inches in the High Altitude Challenge at Alamosa. The 6-foot-8, 330-pound Finley, committed to UCLA, set five state meet records, and all three discus state title performances were record-setters. After finishing seventh as a freshman, a toss of 186-10 as a sophomore bettered the defending state champion by 19 feet and gave him his first title.
Finley moved from Salida High to Buena Vista his junior year and set a pair of state records, throwing the discus 211-6 and the shot put 64-9’½. He also took the Nike Outdoor discus title. Last weekend Finley ended his high school career with two more state records – 214-1 in the discus and 67-10¼ in the shot put, the latter breaking not only his own 3A record, but the all-class record which had stood for 27 years. His personal best shot put, 71-3’½, is the 10th-best high school throw of all time.
Finley attended the University of Kansas for three years before transferring to the University of Wyoming. Over the course of his college career he placed in the top six at the NCAA Championships (Indoor and Outdoor).
Finley was an Olympic Team Member in 2016, placing 11th in the discus throw. In 2017 Finley was a Bronze Medalist at the World Championships in London, England, winning the first United States medal in this event in many years.
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