North Jersey Female Athlete of the Week living up to her potential

Layla Giordano

Sport: Track and field

School: Old Tappan

Class: Junior. Age: 16

Accomplishment: Giordano garnered gold medals in the girls shot put and discus events at Friday’s Bergen Meet of Champions, setting a new county record in the latter (156 feet, 3 inches).

The “tired” question for Layla Giordano is, what’s it like playing three different sports with your twin sister?

The “wired” question: What’s it like playing two different sports for coaches who are brothers?

Giordano broke her own Bergen County record in the girls discus throw last week under the tutelage of Old Tappan throws coach Peter Dunn. Spring track and field has followed a season of being the top scorer for the Golden Knight girls basketball squad of coach Brian Dunn, Peter’s elder by a few years.

“The sports that I play with them are very different, but the attitudes that they both bring to their sports are very similar,” Giordano said. “They have the same mindset, so they bring the same intensity to whatever they coach.”

The 5-foot-10 junior shares the brothers’ desire to put in the work it takes to excel. At Friday’s Bergen Meet of Champions, she increased her discus best to 156 feet, 3 inches, which secured one of the two titles she earned. “Layla threw the shot 42-11, but in the discus, she crushed it,” Peter Dunn said. “She is now No. 6 all-time in history of New Jersey in the discus. She is also currently ranked in the Top 20 in the United States with that performance.”

The younger Dunn “puts into all of our heads that we have so much potential, and there’s so much improvement that we could show if we focus on the little things,” said Giordano, who also throws the javelin and triple jumps. “That really helps all of us on the throws team to get better and get the marks that we want.” Because of her progress in the shot put and discus, track and field has gained “favorite sport” status of the three in which Giordano competes at Old Tappan.

The Northvale resident and her twin, Maya, have been varsity regulars for the Golden Knights on the volleyball and basketball courts since they were freshmen. They do the same throwing events in the spring, but next year could be their last as teammates. “She wants to do track in college, too,” Layla said of Maya. “Neither of us have picked schools yet, but I think we’re going to go in different directions.” For now, their focus is on the sectional- and state-level meets looming in early June. Plus, Layla has qualified for New Balance Outdoor Nationals, held June 15-18 at the University of Pennsylvania.

Giordano ventured to Franklin Field earlier this spring and shone in the spotlight, placing sixth in the Penn Relays girls discus with a distance of 145-4, which illustrates how far she has come in a month.

“I’d never competed at that meet before, or at that level, so it was really cool to be in that atmosphere with all these really great throwers,” she said. “I think I did pretty good for my first time there, and I just want to carry that over to all the rest of the big meets that are left in the season.”