T&T Olympian Dwight St Hillaire made a successful start to his season copping double gold at the Jim Green Track & Field Invitational, Lexington, Kentucky in the United States over the weekend.
St Hillaire sprinted to victory in the men's 200 metres timed final in 21.02 seconds at the Nutter Fieldhouse, winning section one of six to lead a sweep of the first four sports by the University of Kentucky (UK) athletes on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) circuit.
He later ran the third leg as part of the UK quartet who won the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:05.01.
At the Arkansas Invitational in Fayetteville on Thursday, Saifya John of the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (UAPB) topped the women's long jump. The Junior student-athlete best leap measured 6.07m to take the top spot on the podium at the Randall Tyson Track.
She opened with a 5.89m leap to sit in the fourth spot after the first round but returned to reach the winning mark in her second attempt. In round three, she got to 5.45m and passed on the remaining three jumps as her competitors could not outjump her.
John competed in two events on the track the 60m hurdles and the 4x400m. She hurdled to fifth place in the final with a time of 8.57. This after advancing with the sixth-fastest time of 8.61 from the preliminaries.
In the 4x400m relay timed final, John ran the third leg in her UAPB team's overall eighth-place finish with 4:02.55 after placing forth in section two of three.
Her UAPB schoolmate Che Roachford also participated at the Arkansas meet in the men's long jump. The T&T jumper competed in flight one of two and placed eighth to finish 17th overall with a best leap of 5.72m, his first-round attempt. He also registered marks of 5.65m and 5.61m in his second and third tries, respectively.
Roachford also raced in the 60m hurdles and clocked 9.44 to cross eighth in heat three of four in the preliminary round to finish 25th overall and did not progress to the next round.
On the National Junior Collegiate Athletics Association (NJCAA) circuit, Kelsey Daniel in the debut meet of his Collegiate career won gold in the men's long jump.
The New Mexico Junior College (JC) freshman and Pan American Junior silver medallist won with a 7.74m-leap at the Corky Classic at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Centre in Lubbock, Texas, USA also on Thursday.
Daniel could have won with his opening effort of 7.40m. The winning distance was achieved in the second round. He passed on the third round and returned in the fourth to register a 7.13m mark before fouling his reaming two jumps.
Justin Guy of South Plains College reached the final of the men's 60m hurdles and placed sixth with 8.25. In the preliminary round, he ran a personal best time of 7.89 to advance with the fourth-fastest time after finishing second in heat one of three.
Fellow T&T athlete Che Saunders also of New Mexico JC lined up in the third heat and was fourth with his 8.45-clocking, to place 15th overall and did not progress.