Lawrence looms large in discus

Discus thrower Shadae Lawrence got her outdoor season off to a fine start last weekend.

Lawrence, the 2017 NCAA champion, went long at a meet in San Antonio, Texas. Elsewhere, Jamaicans Clayton Brown, Janeek Brown, Shanice Love, Clive Pullen and Damion Thomas, all logged wins on the March 23 and 24 weekend. Those wins came at the Arkansas Spring Invitational, the PAC 10+ Versus Big 10 meet in Arizona, the FSU Relays in Gainseville.

In her first meet back since winning the NCAA title last June for Kansas State University, Lawrence returned to the discus circle on Saturday, throwing 61-08 metres on her first attempt, to win by over five metres at the Road Runner Invitational. The former Vere Technical and Hydel High School standout is following up on a season where she represented Jamaica at the World Championships in London.

Now in his second year at the University of Florida, Brown opened his outdoor campaign with a promising show in the triple jump. The former Champs record holder, sprung out to 16.40 metres in round two and backed that mark up in round four, with a effort measured at 16.39.

Though he has jumped as far as 16.58 metres indoors, he improved his outdoor personal best from 16.17 metres.

In the same meet, Love was just as consistent in the discus. The Florida State University athlete had a third round mark of 56.52 metres and the Excelsior High School graduate added a distance of 56.43 in the final round.

The Bahamian Alonzo Russell did a notable 200/400 double with times of 20.65 seconds and 46.15 seconds respectively. The races served as a tune up for the Commonwealth Games, which start on April 1 in Australia. Russell helped The Bahamas to a 4x400 metre silver medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Brown's namesake Janeek followed up a successful indoor season for the University of Arkansas, with a slick run in the 100 metre hurdles. Aided by a 2.6 metre per second win, the ex-Wolmer's star clocked 13.10 seconds.

Commonwealth Games bound Clive Pullen won the men's triple jump. His best effort was 16.25 metres.

The other Jamaican winners came from Damion Thomas, who took the 110 metre hurdles in 13.79 seconds at the PAC 10+ Versus Big 10 metres. The US based Jamaican attends Louisiana State University.