With the transition from indoors to outdoors, we add one event and that is the discus throw. There is a weight throw indoors but for the most part, it is not contested in Virginia so the addition of the discus outdoors brings big change for some of the throwers who might not consider shot put their main throwing event.
The differences are obvious, the discus weighs less and its release is often more based on speed and power on the spin relative to the glide in shot put for many athletes. Not to mention that the discus incorporates its own set of muscles with some overlap with the other throws.
To put it simply, there are definitely some throwers who much prefer the discus and are ready for the outdoor season.
On the girls side of things here are few of the ones we think are ready for the discus this outdoor season.
Raelin Adams (Radford) - The bronze medalist from last outdoor season returns as one of the top athletes in Class 2 and is already throwing better on two fronts. The first being further in the shot put indoors and the second was being fairly consistent all indoor season. That will be the name of the game for her outdoors in the discus. If she is able to be consistent she will not only be vying for that state title but the state top 10 as well.
Annsley Trivette (Abingdon) - She is your defending Class 3 state champion in both the discus and shot put but has bigger goals for the season than just repeating. She has already competed once in the shot and already PR'd outdoors but is still looking to eclipse her indoor best of 41-4. In the discus she is looking to pass the 140 and maybe 150 mark this season.
Shania Brown (Liberty) - Your Class 2 indoor state champion in the shot put is looking to improve on her silver medal finish last outdoors in the discus. She PR's at the state meet last year and will need to do that again this year with tough competition from other ladies on this list. She was however very consistent throughout the season which is a good sign of her form being solid. She has nearly two feet in the shot year over year so that means we can expect somewhere in the 135-140 ballpark for her if things go well this season.
Emily Maurer (St. Anne's-Belfield) - Your defending VISAA state champ is the only athlete on this list that doesn't compete indoors. That makes it hard to gauge exactly where she will land but she is well on her way to defend her title opening up her season just off of her PR. Last year it was the month of May that really brought her best performances out.
Allyson Harris (Auburn) - Allyson is your defending Class 1 state champion in both the shot and discus. She, like others on this list, saved her best for last and PR'd at the state meet last June. With her consistency and just a little bit of push, we think she could inch closer to 130 this season on the perfect throw.
Over to the boys side of things, here are some of the guys who are looking forward to the long throws.
Christopher Hwang (Chantilly) - Your defending Class 6 Champ is certainly ready to defend his title and build on last year's success. Indoors he was solid finishing second at states and throwing it 60-10 for a new PR. It was in May/June of last year when he really hit his stride so we will be keeping an eye on him as the season progresses.
Aaron Stokes (Churchland) - Aaron finished third indoors at the Class 4 state meet with a four foot improvement in the shot put from last outdoor's. That means we could see 10-15 feet of improvement in his discus throw of 177-4 last year which would prove for a huge mark on the all-time list.
Kobi Bonds (Auburn) - He was the king of throws indoors so it is natural to want to see what he can do in his "off" throwing event. He was second a year ago at the Class 1 State meet so we know that is his first goal of the season to sweep the throws but on top of that we think he could be well into the 170's by the end of the season if not pushing 180.
Aidan Nelson (John Champe) - Aidan is a consistent thrower between the two events meaning he, out of all of this list at least, is probably equally ranked on discus as he is in the shot put. We think though that the discus could be more of his event if he can get all the pieces to work together. We say that because his shot put marks are fairly consistent while his discus marks go up and down by about 30-40 feet. If he is able to get consistently in the 160's (his pr is 167) then we think he could have a 175 to 180 in his arms this season.
Lamont Mayo (Varina) - Lamont threw the discus grand total of once last outdoor season. Despite just throwing once he launched it 159-10 almost a year ago to the day. Indoors however he threw it 61-10 and threw over 60 feet seven times! What this means is we could be in store for a huge mark in the discus if the stars align. We would not be shocked if it was in the 190's range.
