Sobota Headlines Top Field Event Performances at KYA Classic


The KYA Indoor Classic provided some excellent times and marks across many different disciplines.

In the field, we saw a few nationally elite performances, starting in the boys and girls shot put.

Joshua Sobota opened up his senior season in style, winning the shot put in a new US No. 2 mark of 64-4.5. Sobota finished third at New Balance Outdoors last season when he threw 65-11. 

Jermaine Anderson finished second on Friday afternoon. And his mark was also a nationally elite one. Anderson's throw of 58-10.75 is a top 15 mark. Anderson has already thrown over 60 feet this season, which puts him at No. 5 on the national leaderboard.

Sobota, a Kentucky signee, is ready for a big season. The Bearden senior had a major breakthrough at New Balance Nationals to finish third. He threw 63-8.25 at the state meet, and then crushed that personal best at NBN. 

To show how much he's improved, you can take a look back at Sobota's performance in Johnson City just one year ago. Last January, he threw 57-4.5. And now he's seven feet better just a year later. He'll certainly have plenty of opportunities to represent Tennessee on a national stage this season.

The girls shot put also provided an eye opening performance. Kori McDaniel, representing Throw1 Deep Club, posted a US Top 10 mark of 43-2.25 to win the competition.

That's a major personal best for McDaniel, who came in with a career best throw of 40-6 from back in 2016. McDaniel finished seventh at New Balance Outdoors last spring. But her throw on Friday afternoon was three feet better than her performance on that day.

McDaniel currently has the No. 10 throw in America so far this season, including the No. 1 mark in the state of Georgia.

Second place went to Soteria Russell, who threw 41-5. Even though McDaniel's throw was two feet better, Russell still sits at No. 2 in the state of Georgia based on her performance at the KYA Classic. That field is one of the best you'll see around the country this indoor season.

Moving forward to Saturday morning, we saw a US Top 20 early in the morning in the girls long jump. DaLoria Boone's mark of 18-7.25 is one of the best we've seen all season.

Boone jumped 19-0 early this season at the Hoover Alumni Invite, so she's already the best jumper in the state of Georgia. 

In the boys high jump, Campbell County junior Christian Shouse laid down a huge personal best to take the victory and a nationally elite mark. Shouse jumped 6-6.75 on his second attempt, giving him the best height in the state this season.

Shouse also sits at No. 19 in the United States so far in the early season. TN No. 2 Tanner Henry (Dobyns Bennett) took second place. He cleared 6-2.75 in his first career indoor competition.

For an early season indoor meet, the field event athletes brought it. It will be tough to top these impressive performances at the 2018 KYA Indoor Classic.