SE: Shadae Lawrence Seeking Big Marks with Bigger Rewards Heading into Big 12 Championship
May 11, 2017 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
Shadae Lawrence, a sophomore discus thrower for K-State's track and field team, improved at an incredible rate as a freshman, which has only made this season tougher on the Jamaican.
Lawrence's first season with K-State included winning five of the seven times she threw, highlighted by a Big 12 title and a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championship. To earn First Team All-America honors, Lawrence launched a school-record throw of 61.81m/200-09, which helped send her to the Olympics last summer.
"It showed me I have the potential to do well," Lawrence said of her Olympic outing. "It has helped my development for this year. The experience was good to throw against the elite athletes."
The experience also changed Lawrence's perspective. Winning meets became less important than hitting certain marks, though with the distance she's striving to throw, the two go hand-in-hand.
"It's about marks right now. I'm not even thinking about the collegiate level right now. I'm thinking about the world level," she said. "The Olympic experience made me want more."
Wanting and achieving are two different things, Lawrence has learned. After a year of rapid improvement, spurred largely by a proper training program, Lawrence has focused most of her second season as a Wildcat on technique and thinking through each throw.
"It's been tough," she said. "Last year I threw and the results came but now I have to be thinking harder."
"Shadae got really good, really fast. Lots of times when that happens, you do that so much without thinking," added K-State assistant coach Greg Watson, in charge of the Wildcat throwers, "and it just happens."
This season, it hasn't just happened. Still, she's dominated her competition, a testament to her talent.
Lawrence is 4-for-4 this season when it comes to finishing first. Additionally, she ranks first in the Big 12 and third in the country with a season-best mark of 59.61m/195-07, a distance no other Wildcat has topped in school history. It is also more than 16 feet farther than the next-best Big 12 competitor has thrown this season.
"This year, the focus for her has been a lot more on technique. She's still developing and getting stronger, so it's been a challenge for her, as it is for anyone, to break technique down and figure out how to put together far throws while you're working on that," Watson said. "I see a lot more consistency in her, in terms of the numbers that she's throwing in training, than last year. But in order to get the far, far throws, well above her PR, it's going to take mastering a few things that we've been really working on, technically, all year long."
Lawrence said she appreciates Watson, who she considers much more than a coach, for many reasons. Most of all, she said, he's adaptable. He tailors his coaching style to the athlete's personality.
For her, in one word, he's "tough."
"He knows I can handle tough, harsh training. That's how he's been different with me," said Lawrence, whose twin sister Shardia triple jumps for K-State and also ranks first in the Big 12. "And because I improved so fast, he wants to maintain that."
After tasting the highest level of track and field competition last year, Lawrence wants another seat at the table. This will require her to throw at least 61.20m/200-09, the standard for the World Championships that will be held in London, Great Britain, this August. If she throws such a mark at this weekend's Big 12 Championship in Lawrence, it would break the conference meet record of 60.18m/197-05, another goal of hers.
"She's capable of doing it. Physically, she's ready and capable of throwing that far. She's really been forced to think a little bit more this year and I think every athlete goes through that part," Watson said. "There are very few times in an athlete's career where it just happens and you don't have to think about it. She's experiencing a little bit of that, but everyone does. That's what makes them grow and mature and develop as competitors and athletes. It's good for her."
So far, this season has not brought the marks Lawrence wants. She felt last week was when it would all come together, but it didn't. Fortunately, she hasn't lost confidence and knows it's only a matter of time.
"It's been tough, but I just have to tell myself that this is what I love and this is what I want to do, so I just have to keep going," Lawrence said. "To fill such a gap, you have to keep convincing yourself that you're going to get there again and you're going to get even better. I'm going to get even better."
For more K-State Sports Extra content visit the archive or subscribe to K-State Athletics and get great content delivered directly to your email inbox.
K-State Track and Field | Tyson Invitational Recap
Wednesday, February 18
K-State Track & Field | DeLoss Dodds Invitational Recap
Wednesday, February 04
K-State Track & Field | Thane Baker Invitational Recap
Monday, January 19
K-State Track & Field | Uniform Reveal
Tuesday, November 11
