Any disc can play - Real depth to discus field as National Trials nears

When Roje Stona sailed his discus 65.11m at the recent Penn Relays, the Clemson University senior had played his part in the achievement of a national milestone. Thanks to Stona, Jamaica has for the first time, four men who have thrown the disc past the 65m line in one season. Commonwealth and Pan-American Games discus runner-up Traves Smikle says the accomplishment shows that Jamaica is doing great things.

Speaking a day after he threw 66.60m at the National Stadium on Sunday, Smikle said, "It's amazing that we have four discus throwers from Jamaica over 65m and I think we're in the top 15. You know, to be honest, my reaction to that is we are doing great things on our little island and it shows the talent and the class we have, not only in sprinting, but in throws."

Smikle leads the pack with his training partner Fedrick Dacres, 2021 World Under-20 Championships runner-up Ralford Mullings, and 2021 NCAA silver medal winner Stona all appearing inside the top 15 on the 2022 World Athletics performance list. Dacres, the 2019 World Championships second-place finisher, and Mullings, a first year student-athlete at Arizona State University, have 2022 marks of 65.98 and 65.39 metres, respectively.

With those accomplishments in mind, Smikle said, "We have shown the ability, the capability to compete on the world stage in what we considered years ago a non-traditional event. So for us to have four guys over 65, boy, it's looking more traditional by the year. So I'm very impressed."

The group might soon grow. Olympic finalist Chad Wright has a personal best of 66.54m and Smikle knows his fellow Calabar High School graduate is building his season.

"Chad can very well hit over 65 - 66 on any given day, because he has done it before and he has shown himself to have a level of pedigree of competition, mental strength," Smikle said. "So I would not be surprised if he hit a season's best over 65, 66. For me, it's just a matter of time."

Smikle entered the JAAA/SDF Jubilee Meet at the weekend with a season's best of 65.60m, 40cm short of the qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championship in July.

"It looked like a 65m throw but I'm hoping for the 66", he recalled, "and when I saw the 66 come up the board, my coach (Julian Robinson) and I celebrated because that has been my best throw since 2019."

The quality of the four Jamaicans over 65m this year, Wright, and 2018 World Under-20 champion Kai Chang makes the upcoming National Championships a showdown where any disc can play. Smikle is looking forward to it. "One of the things that I've been working on for this season is to be consistent at a higher level at every meet I go and for this season," he said. I've been averaging between 64 and 65 and I got my 66 yesterday."

In all, he has been at 64m or better in each of his six competitions this season with three over 65.

"I want to put myself in a position that if any disc plays from my competitors, I'm able to respond and compete well."