DOVER – Courtney “C.J.” McDermott keeps throwing his weights around better than anyone else in Delaware.
The Mount Pleasant High senior has done it well enough, in fact, to earn the right to do it in college elsewhere.
McDermott has earned a track and field scholarship to the University of Rhode Island’s Division I program. But before traveling off to Kingston, he has business to finish in the First State.
On Friday at Dover High, McDermott secured his first Division I shot put title in the DIAA Track and Field Championships. When the meet resumes Saturday morning, he’ll pursue a repeat win in the discus, his preferred event of the two.
Among the best
Coming into the state meet, McDermott’s personal-best 173-9 in the discus ranked No. 9 all-time among Delaware high school throwers and is a school record.
His 55-2½ in the shot put was 24th on the Delaware performance chart and the third best by a Green Knight, with Dave Crew’s 58-8½ from 1972 still the school mark.
“That’s a monster record,” Mount Pleasant coach Randy Holmes said of a distance only seven First State shot putters have surpassed in the 50 years since.
A 53-foot, 3-inch delivery did the trick Friday with a stiff breeze blowing.
“I’ve been fighting for a while for shot,” McDermott said of his state title.
Early start
McDermott and his mother, Gina, moved to Claymont from Philadelphia just before he started ninth grade at Mount Pleasant. But she’d gotten her son involved in track and field at age 10.
“My mom actually forced me to do it,” he said with a laugh. “I used to cry every day about not wanting to go to practice. But doing it over time, it just kind of became part of me.”
He’d gravitated toward weight throwing. But school and the track season being erased by the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset in the spring of 2020, when McDermott was in ninth grade, was a setback. However, working with Barry Swanson of Train Hard Win Big, McDermott honed his technique and got back in the groove, he said
“You could see he had all that potential when he first came down here, that he was gonna be good,” Holmes said. “Throwing was his thing.”
DIAA TRACK AND FIELD: Friday’s results
A diligent, mindful approach
McDermott’s best sophomore finish in 2021 was fifth in the discus. But he was first in the discus and fifth in the shot put in Division I at the 2022 state meet.
“He just works at it and he studies it,” Holmes said.
That allows McDermott to make the technical adjustments worth valuable feet and inches.
“When those guys get good enough that they can correct their own mistakes, when they know exactly what they did after they did it, that’s where C.J. is,” Holmes said. “C.J. knows it and he can show other people how to do it. We’ve had some good throwers at Mount Pleasant but C.J. is definitely the best in a long time.”
When it comes to the shot put, “I spend a lot of time with technique,” said McDermott, who especially focuses on having a compact rotation, which provides more power to release the 12-pound ball.
“Pushing the shot, you want to be completely upright,” he added, which allows his momentum to provide additional force.
He relishes the fine tuning that comes with it.
“I like to learn more and do better,” he said.
Colleges notice
Competing for the Philadelphia Express club team coached by Rhonda Baker, McDermott won both the shot and discus last summer in the 17-and 18-year-old age group at Mid-Atlantic AAUs.
He was then seventh in the discus and 13th in the shot put at the Junior Olympics.
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Driving home with Baker, he made email contact with URI coaches, who’d expressed interest in him attending. They responded immediately and a visit soon followed that paved the way to McDermott’s college future.
“It’s measurable,” Holmes said of track and field performances, “and once you get to certain points, colleges are interested.”
What’s his favorite?
McDermott is a bit better in the discus and “that’s where my love lies”, he said.
Part of the reason? It’s more complicated and demanding.
McDermott also placed 8th overall and fourth among Americans at April’s Penn Relays in the discus with a 171-10 heave – his first beyond 170.
“It requires more knowledge and technique and perfection,” he said.
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