Jays' Roberson unleashes record throw to win Class 5 discus state title

Devin Roberson of Jefferson City gets ready to release the discus during the Class 5 state track and field championships Saturday at Battle High School in Columbia. Roberson broke the Missouri all-class record during the competition with a throw of 218 feet, 4 inches.
Devin Roberson of Jefferson City gets ready to release the discus during the Class 5 state track and field championships Saturday at Battle High School in Columbia. Roberson broke the Missouri all-class record during the competition with a throw of 218 feet, 4 inches.

COLUMBIA - Not even a second after the discus left his hand on the final throw of his high school career, Jefferson City's Devin Roberson jumped up and pumped his arms into the air.

The discus spun perfectly. The toss was a beauty. And it went far, really, really far.

"I felt the disc come off my index finger and I knew it was good," Roberson said. "I saw it was flying flat, it was perfect height. It was just good. And I saw the video on it afterward and my form looked good. It was just a really good throw."

Good enough for the all-class record and the top mark in the nation this year.

Roberson's final discus toss of his high school career landed 218 feet, 4 inches from the ring at Battle High School. It won the Class 5 state championship by 32 feet.

His previous attempt was a mere 213-10, which also beat the all-class mark by 1 foot, 5 inches.

After that throw, Roberson jumped around and greeted teammate Corey Suttle with a celebratory roar.

The celebration was far from over.

With just one more throw remaining, Roberson got the crowd involved with a clap and let it fly.

"I was like, well, I haven't started a clap in all my four years so I want to do that," Roberson said. "I wanted to leave with no regrets and I started a clap and I was like, 'I'm just going to go hard and try to rip one, I have nothing to lose.'"

"The clap got me hyped so I can only imagine what he was feeling," Suttle said.

Roberson couldn't contain his excitement. He hopped into the grass behind the concrete ring, fell to the ground, waited a second before slapping the ground and continuing the celebration with a hug with Suttle and another with Jays throwing coach Chris Lueckenhoff.

"Coach Luckenhofff isn't really an emotional guy," Roberson said. "To share that moment with him was just really cool. Other PRs I got there's been some emotion for sure, but nothing like that."

This was no ordinary moment.

The soon-to-be Missouri Tiger launched the discus farther than anyone else this year, twice.

"There's so many throwers nationwide that throw disc and to have my name at the top of that list is really crazy," Roberson said. " It just shows that hard work pays off."

Roberson's previous best throw in competition was 206-1, which he recorded two weeks ago at districts.

But something was different about Saturday. Instead of competing at Adkins Stadium after the meet had to be moved because of tornado damage, Roberson had to travel away from home for his last high school meet.

He said that only got the juices flowing even more.

"If anything it upped it for sure," Roberson said. "I have a different mentality when I leave home that I try and own the place wherever I'm at. Coming here it was still the same goal in mind but I think I just had a better mentality."

Coming in, Roberson wanted all six of his throws to reach 200 feet. He came up just short as his first throw of the finals went 196-4.

Considering the final result, he's fine with that goal not being achieved.

"I'm not mad at all," Roberson said. "I'd probably rather take the 218 and then have one throw under 200 for sure. It was my best throw series ever and probably one of the best in a while in Missouri."

Roberson ends his career as a Jay with five state medals and back-to-back state discus championships.

His final medal was earned Saturday afternoon in the shot put, placing runner-up with a throw off 58-11.5.

Roberson was only beat out by North Kansas City's Adetomiwa Adebawo, who broke the Class 5 record with a mark of 62-7.75.

Adebawo was the one who threw 32 fewer feet than Roberson in the discus to take second.