REIGNING CHAMP Mason Finley, who hadn’t competed since early April, didn’t enter. Even so, he wasn’t one of the three Americans who owned a WC qualifying mark of 216-6 (66.00).
That trio — Andrew Evans (207-8/63.31), Brian Williams (203-10/62.12) and Sam Mattis (200-5/61.08) — were in 1st, 2nd and 4th after the first three rounds. Perched in 3rd was Cal junior Iffy Joyner at 201-6 (61.42), the second-longest throw of his career.
As anticipated, the final three rounds provided plenty of place changes.
Round 4 saw ’18 champ Reggie Jagers move from 5th to 2nd with a throw of 203-11 (62.16), just an inch ahead of Williams.
There were two changes in round 5. Leadoff thrower Legend Boyesen Hayes moved from 8th to 4th with a mark of 201-9 (61.49), while premeet favorite Mattis — now in 6th — improved to 204-2 (62.25) to take over the runner-up position.
The throwing order was re-sorted for the final round, as Evans, Mattis and Jagers held down the top 3, followed by Williams and Boyesen Hayes as the only two others over 200ft on the day.
The number of 200-footers grew to 6 when BYU soph Dallin Shurts uncorked the only PR of the meet at 204-5 (62.32) as he moved into 2nd place. That was a 4-foot PR for the 6-foot-7 Oregon native, who hadn’t qualified for the NCAA.
As it turned out, there were no other improvements in the final round, as overall most of the leading throwers were far below their seasonal bests — Jagers, a lefty, was a notable exception along with Shurts.
It appears the U.S. team for the Worlds will be placers 1-3-5, the three Q-standard owners, Evans, Mattis and Williams.
It’s the first national title for the 31-year-old Evans, making a comeback after making the team for Rio and the ’17 Worlds.
“This year’s been so weird,” he explained.” I hadn’t thrown for the past three years. When I started throwing in March, my expectations were to just make it to this meet — not to have a chance to medal or anything like that. The thought was next year, maybe, set the bar a little bit higher. The stars aligned, I guess.”
MEN’S DISCUS RESULTS
(June 23)
1. Andrew Evans (unat) 207-8 (63.31)
(200-9, 207-8, 202-3, 205-1, 206-11, 201-8) (61.19, 63.31, 61.66, 62.52, 63.07, 61.46);
2. Dallin Shurts (BYU) 204-5 (62.32) PR
(190-4, f, 197-10, 188-8, 186-11, 204-5) (58.01, f, 60.31, 57.51, 56.99, 62.32);
3. Sam Mattis (NYAC) 204-2 (62.25)
(f, 200-5, 193-8, 198-1, 204-2, 201-4) (f, 61.08, 59.04, 60.39, 62.25, 61.38);
4. Reggie Jagers (unat) 203-11 (62.16)
(198-9, 184-1, 199-1, 203-11, f, 203-1) (60.59, 56.12, 60.68, 62.16, f, 61.91);
5. Brian Williams (Tracksm/DHP) 203-10 (62.12)
(196-6, f, 203-10, 200-5, f, 196-6) (59.89, f, 62.12, 61.10, f, 59.91);
6. Legend Boyesen (GarS) 201-9 (61.49)
(f, 194-0, 195-10, f, 201-9, 182-6) (f, 59.14, 59.69, f, 61.49, 55.63);
7. Iffy Joyner (Cal) 201-6 (61.42) ◻︎
(201-6, f, 189-11, 193-2, 192-5, 190-4) (61.42, f, 57.90, 58.88, 58.65, 58.01);
8. Noah Kennedy White (GarS) 197-1 (60.08); 9. Josh Syrotchen (GarS) 194-8 (59.33); 10. Jeff Williams (Mia) 193-4 (58.92); 11. Kord Ferguson (TOD) 193-3 (58.90); 12. Darian Brown (unat) 188-11 (57.59); 13. Jordan Johnson (Ia) 186-6 (56.86) ; 14. Jordan Roach (unat) 182-4 (55.58); 15. Marcus Gustaveson (Vel) 179-2 (54.61); 16. Joseph Brown (unat) 172-8 (52.62); 17. Gabriel Katches (unat) 169-11 (51.81);… 3f—Terrell Adams (unat).