Eugene, Oregon may be known as “Track Town, USA”, but a star is rising on the Oregon field team. Redshirt freshman Kobe Lawrence capped off a promising rookie season by finishing fourth in shot put at the 2025 Outdoor Championships on Wednesday.
“It’s a dream come true,” Lawrence said post-race as he stared at the trophy in his hands, which he’d earned by finishing among the top eight of 22 athletes competing inside Eugene’s world-famous Hayward Field.
Lawrence achieved fourth position via a personal-best put of 20.32 meters. The put was 0.25 meters further than his previous best of 20.07 meters, which had stood since Lawrence competed unattached at last year’s Oregon Twilight.
“It’s always (been) there this whole season, but I haven’t got it in meets,” Lawrence said of his new personal best. “Now that I did it, it was like ‘Oh, finally.’”
The put was Lawrence’s fifth on sixth attempts, and appeared to have earned him second place behind only Ole Miss’ Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan (20.41 meters) after five rounds. However, both Wisconsin’s Jason Swarens (21.23 meters) and the University of North Carolina’s Thomas Kitchell (20.74 meters) improved in the sixth round, pushing Lawrence down to fourth.
According to athletic.net, Lawrence’s 20.32-meter put is the best outdoor 16-lb put in Oregon history, surpassing Neil Steinhauer’s put of 19.52 meters from 1966. For Lawrence, the personal achievement also speaks to a growing throwing culture in the Oregon track and field team.
“I know I’m one of the best. It’s the right time. It’s been hard training working with Coach (Brian Blutreich) all year,” Lawrence said. “We have a good program here, and I’m finally getting to show the country that we’re coming.”
Though Lawrence, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, turned 21 in February, he’s still only a redshirt freshman, and has three more years of eligibility under his belt. Lawrence plans to capitalize on his remaining opportunities.
“I’m going to go back and work way harder, come back next year and try to be dominant,” Lawrence said.
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