American shot putter Kevin Toth’s promise was even bigger than his throw Saturday at Kansas University’s Memorial Stadium.

Toth smashed his own Kansas Relays shot-put record with a throw of 74 feet, 4 1/2 inches, but just missed a new world record by a foot and a half.

“It’s coming soon,” said an ecstatic Toth, all but guaranteeing a new world record will be his as he eagerly signed autographs for fans, and even a few competitors, from the shot-put pit outside of Memorial Stadium.

Toth’s toss not only provided a shot of electricity to the 76th annual Relays — which were nearly canceled for the second straight year because of lightning — but added the most significant accomplishment in decades, said meet director Tim Weaver.

“This is a huge high on a very roller-coaster weekend,” said Weaver, who considered canceling the field events altogether when lightning postponed the meet’s premier day for more than two hours.

“I’m thrilled that he did something great here at this meet,” Weaver said. “It gives our meet prestige, and people will be talking about this years from now and not the rain. This is the best mark at the Kansas Relays in any event in probably a couple of decades.”

The 35-year-old Toth, who resides in Hudson, Ohio, was so excited about his accomplishment that he forgot where he parked his car. He said Saturday’s throw was just another step in his 12-year-old career’s path toward a world championship and world record.

“This is good today, but this is not the national championships, not the world championships,” said Toth, who was the U.S. indoor champion this year and improved on his 1997 Kansas Relays record of 71-21¼2.

Toth had a shaky start, fouling on his first three attempts.

But his fourth throw of 71 feet was clean — good enough to win the competition by nearly 7 feet.

“The problem was, he didn’t even know if he was going to throw or not because of the weather,” said coach Mike Mielke, who started working with Toth in October. “It kind of threw his rhythm off. He just couldn’t settle down; he tends to get a little excited.”

But that excitement helped Toth on his fifth throw — which became the best throw since Randy Barnes’ world-record mark of 75-101¼4 set in Los Angeles in 1990.

Friend and competitor Tonyo Sylvester, who took second Saturday with a throw of 63-2, has little doubt of Toth’s boasts.

“I’ve seen stuff in practice, where I knew this was coming,” said Sylvester, who also trains with Mielke. “He’s a man on a mission.”