Jamaica’s throwing heroes added a touch of class to the King of the Ring competition at Excelsior High School on February 26. Fedrick Dacres and O’Dayne Richards, the nation’s first World Championship medal winners in the discus and shot put respectively, were both triumphant and Shadae Lawrence, the island’s first female discus Olympic finalist, topped her pet event too.

Dacres beat his Reckless Control training partner Traves Smikle, 65.72m to 64.00m, to accelerate his bid to match or exceed his 2019 World Championships silver medal. Smikle led after three rounds but Dacres cranked out his winner on his fifth try. Chad Wright, Jamaica’s first male Olympic discus finalist, was third.

Dacres now stands third on the 2022 world performance list, with Pan-Am and Commonwealth Games runner-up Smikle fifth with his mark of 64.65m from February 19.

Richards, the 2015 World Championship third-place finisher, set a meet record of 19.31m in the shot with Dacres and Wright well back on 17.26 and 16.91 metres respectively. The 2014 Commonwealth champion had 3 other tosses over 19 metres, 19.21 in round 1, 19.28 in round 3 and 19.25 in round 4. His best effort came in his last visit to the throwing circle.

Like Richards, Lawrence set a King of the Ring record with a throw of 60.59m in the women’s discus. The 2021 Olympic finalist smashed the meet record – 56.43m – with a first-round spin of 60.49m before adding to her new mark in round six.

In one of the big high school clashes of the meet, Cedricka Williams of Holmwood Technical High School downed all her class 1 discus rivals for the gold at the upcoming Boys and Girls Championships with a first-round winner, 47.18m. Camperdown’s Britannia Johnson was second on 46.47m.

The Camperdown thrower got a win of her own in the shot, with a record throw of 14.50m.

Trevor Gunzell turned the tables on his Edwin Allen High teammate Christopher Young in the class 1 boys event. All four of his measured throws were over 61 metres with his second launch spanning 62.59m. Young, who won the previous week at GC Foster College, reached 61.66m as both boys broke the meet record of 58.16m.

Third in the discus, Kobe Lawrence of Calabar High School took the class 1 shot. The best throw by the 2021 World Under 20 Championships 8th place finisher was 18.50m.