World leaders step in the ring at Excelsior tomorrow

After big throws in Kingston and Spanish Town last Saturday, the King of the Ring meet promises to fill its Excelsior High School venue with excitement tomorrow.

According to meet director Michael Vassell, that’s because the meet has received entries from a wider range of schools than usual and because big throws are expected, in both the discus and the shot put.

Vassell is feeling the buzz from the local throws community. “It’s excitement, but it’s kind of tempered by the fact that we are still unable to generate real interest in sponsoring these events because, I mean, I have seen entries from high schools as far away as Spot Valley, BB Coke, Denbigh, Happy Grove,” he said.

“These are all places where once I would never think of throwers coming out. We have the regular schools, but it’s amazing to see how far it has spread,” he added.

The meet will begin at 8 a.m. with an exhibition of hammer throwing by national record holder Canigga Raynor, and will feature an all-star discus crew of 2021 Olympic finalists Shadae Lawrence and Chad Wright, 2019 World Championship runner-up Fedrick Dacres, and Pan-American/Commonwealth silver medal winner Traves Smikle.

Lawrence and Smikle have the best throws of the season so far, with world-leading marks of 62.56 metres by Lawrence and 64.65 metres for the left-handed Smikle.

Vassell, who coaches Wright, expects that the high standards set this season in the Class One discus for both girls and boys, and the Class One shot for boys, will continue at the Excelsior throws facility. Cedricka Williams of Holmwood Technical, Britannia Johnson of Camperdown High and Williams of Edwin Allen High threw 53.38, 48.65 and 48.51 metres, respectively, last Saturday without meeting each in direct competition. All three are entered at the King of the Ring.

The Boys and Girls’ Championships Class One record is 53.04 metres set by Fiona Richards of Edwin Allen in 2017.

EXPLOSIVE COMPETITION

Vassell can’t wait.

“The last time I remember us having this kind of quality was when Shadae Lawrence was in her last year in high school, when she and a young Shanice Love met. And that was really one where you could see the talent coming out there, and we could see the quality coming out there. I think they set the tone for what should happen on Saturday, which is going to be a really explosive competition,” he said, recalling the youthful exploits of 2019 Pan-American Games teammates Lawrence and Love.

Edwin Allen teammates Christopher Young and Trevor Gunzell battled head to head at G.C. Foster College last Saturday, with Young winning, 61.49 to 61.41 metres. Young has boomed the shot 20.20 metres and will look to hold off Calabar High School’s Kobe Lawrence.

“We’re going to do our best to create the atmosphere for the athletes to be the stars,” said the man who has been staging throws-only meets since 2004.