T&T's Tyra Gittens claimed the high jump and long jump titles on day two of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Centre in Fayetteville, Arkansas in the United States on Sunday.
The University of Texas A&M multi-sport athlete bounced back from a disappointing performance on day one in the pentathlon where she placed sixth with a tally of 3,818 points.
Gittens won the high jump with a 1.89-metre leap, the second-highest clearance in Texas A&M history only behind her own school record of 1.91m according to her school's website which she was quoted saying: "Today (Sunday) was about beating myself because yesterday (Saturday) I let the negative Tyra, the bad Tyra that we don't like to see, I let her overtake and I let her win yesterday. Today I relaxed, I let go and everything that I wanted to do was executed and I can not be happier, I'm so proud of myself."
The Redshirt Junior, a short while later, made the long jump final with her third jump of 6.19m. Her final attempt measured 6.62m, which equalled her personal best, which ranks as the second-best performance in Aggie history, to see her lift her second gold medal that day.
T&T had another women's athlete putting on a sterling performance at the Championships with the University of Alabama (UA) senior Cherisse Murray throwing a career-best 17.13m to cop a silver medal in the women's shot put final.
While the women were excelling on the field, Dwight St Hillaire of the University of Kentucky (UK) was over on the track helping his team post a school-record time of 3:04.67 in the men's 4x400m final to also nab a silver medal. The senior athlete ran the anchor leg to see his team to second place in section three of the timed final.
Another T&T athlete Joshua St Clair, running the third leg for the UA men's relay team, topped section two with 3:04.90 but their time was only good enough for fourth place.
Both St Hillaire and St Clair also faced the starter in the men's 400m with the former reaching the section finals. St Hillaire just missed out on a spot on the podium, placing fourth overall with a 45.67-clocking after crossing second in section two of the timed final.
St Clair, meanwhile, did not advance out of the preliminaries after placing third in heat two with 47.65.
At the SWAC Indoor Track & Field Championships which unfolded at the Birmingham Metro Crossplex in Alabama on Wednesday and Thursday, Arkansas-Pine Bluff sophomores Safiya John and Caitlin Ragoonanan did well with the former picking up two medals while the other claimed one.
John dominated the women's 60m hurdles, winning the final with a time of 8.64. This after progressing from the preliminary heats with the fastest time 8.67.
Later, she placed third with 5.67m in the long jump while Ragoonanan took 10th spot with 5.34.
John also competed in the high jump event and finished outside of the top three spots, fourth place with 1.55m.
Ragoonanan tackled the 400m and finished 17th in the prelims, not fast enough to progress. She did not go away empty-handed as she helped Arkansas-Pine Bluff cop silver in the 4x400m with 3:53.85.
Jackson State freshman Adel Colthrust placed second in the men's 60m with a 6.18-clocking. This after moving on with the second-quickest time of 6.76.
Clement Campbell Jr, also of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, did not make it out of the opening round, placing 11th in 7.00.
Later, Colthrust sprinted to second place in section four of the 200m final with 22.25 to end in fifth spot.
Franklyn Stanisclaus, also representing Arkansas-Pine Bluff, placed fifth in the men's 60m hurdles final 8.71, advancing from the preliminaries with the sixth-fastest time (8.51). He also competed in the high jump and was sixth with a 1.86m-leap and ninth (6.50m) in the long jump which saw Campbell take the sixth spot with his best attempt measuring 6.84m.
University of Southern California freshman Rae-Ann Serville opened her season at the Championships at the Peak at the Airforce Cadet Field house in Colorado Springs and clocked the fourth-fastest time in the preliminary heats of the women's 400m with 54.18. However, the owner of T&T's junior record in the 400, but did not start.
Colorado sophomore Tamia Badal also raced at the Peak meet in two events. She placed seventh with 8.65 in the women's 60m hurdles, advancing with the sixth-fastest time of 8.62 from the prelims. Badal later ran the third leg in the 4x440 yd relay and her team placed third with 3:53.25.
Jumper Alisha St Louis, a senior at Eastern Michigan, also competed in two events at the Mid-American Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Central Michigan Indoor Athletics Complex in Lansing. She placed 10th in the triple jump with 11.65m and 12th in the long jump, 5.34m.
In the Big 10 Indoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio, Akilah Lewis of Minnesota bagged a bronze in the women's 60m final with 7.39, matching her time in the first round which saw her win heat two and move on with the second-quickest time.
In the men's version of the dash, Kion Benjamin (Minnesota) was fifth in 6.77. In the preliminaries, he had the fourth-fastest time of 6.76, finishing second in heat three while Eric Harrison (Ohio State) was third in heat two, finishing 11th with 6.86.
Both Harrison, a senior, and Benjamin, a sophomore, lined up in the 200m. Harrison, after winning the opening heat in the prelims and advancing with the fifth quickest time (21.20), placed seventh (21.22) in the final.
Benjamin was third in heat three with 21.56, ending in 11th spot and did not advance.
Kashief King (Illinois) also did not make it out of the opening round in the men's 400m as his 48.34-clocking placed him 11th. King was also part of the Illinois 4x400m relay team that placed fourth (3:11.49).
In the women's shot put, Ianna Roach (Iowa) placed 15th with 14.51m and in the weight throw, she was 18th with 16.37.
In Lubbock, Texas at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, Tatianna Martinez (TCU) competed in two events but did not reach the final round in either. She was third in heat four in the women's 200m with 24.92 to be 18th and 10th in the 400m after placing fourth in heat three with 55.79.