T&T's Kai Selvon opened her season at the Tropical Park Elite Sprints Meet, Tropical Park Track in Miami, Florida, USA on Saturday, with a silver medal in the women's 400 metres.
The Puma MVP International runner clocked 56.03 seconds to follow Colombian Yennifer Padilla to the line with 54.34. In third place was Unattached runner Jennifer Estime with 1:01.80.
Andre Marcano of Central Park Track Club (CPTC) Tracksmith also featured at the Florida meet and he just missed out on a top-three finish placing fourth in the men's 100m with 10.68. This after winning heat four in the preliminary round with a 10.53-clocking to advance to the final.
Winning the dash was Cejhae Green of Puma MVP International in 10.01 with Nike's Fred Kerley (10.21) in a far-off second place and Marcano's CPTC Tracksmith clubmate Jeremy Bascom (10.51), third.
At the 15th Spring Break Classic Invitational, Carolina in Puerto Rico last Thursday, Asa Guevara of Empire Athletics competed in the men's 200m and crossed second in 20.98 behind clubmate Bahamian Steven Gardiner with 20.24. In third place was NB Metro's Ezequiel Suarez Hildago of the host country with 21.33.
Later on the second day of the three-day meet, Guevara ran the second leg for Empire Athletics which saw Gardiner run the anchor leg while they partnering with Kinard Rolle and Andrew Hudson to place first in the 4x100m relay. The quartet won comfortably in 39.98 ahead of Metro which featured Hildago along with Jason Paris, Ruben Gonzalez and Octavio Acevedo, with 50.58.
<Local athletes thrive in Division I>
On the NCAA Division I collegiate circuit last week and the over the weekend, several local athletes thriving on both the track and the field including Safiya John of the University Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Louisiana State University (LSU) Akanni Hislop and Rae-Anne Serville of the University of Southern California (USC), who had gold medal performances.
John nabbed double gold at the Richard Martin Jr Invitational meet in Arkansas. The Arkansas-Pine Bluff sophomore won the women's 100m hurdles with a 14.21-clocking and then topped the javelin throw with a distance of 31.44m. She also competed in the 200m and placed 10th with 25.90. Her team did not finish the 4x400m relay.
Hislop, a senior at LSU, won the men's 100m with a time of 10.32 and picked another gold in the sprint relay. He ran the second leg to help the LSU unit win in 39.56. Hislop ran the anchor leg for the LSU "B" team in the 4x400m times final and clocked 3:16.58 but just missed on a podium finish, placing fourth.
Serville raced to gold in the women's 400m in the USC Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles. The USC freshman won section one of the timed final with 53.45.
In Tucson, Arizona, NCAA pentathlon champion Tyra Gittens of the University of Texas A&M competed in one event at the Willie Williams Classic/Dave Murray Distance Carnival last Thursday, the women's javelin throw and the junior placed 14th with her best throw, measuring 35.50m.
Gittens was named to the post-NCAA Indoor Championships Bowerman Watch List, the organisation announced yesterday, according to the university's website. It said after being named to the initial docket on February 10, the Aggie has yet to be moved off the watch list.
It went on, Gittens turned in one of the most impressive performances in NCAA meet history, she scored 26 points which ranks third-most in collegiate history. She claimed national championships in the pentathlon and high jump while finishing third in the long jump. Gittens set a collegiate record in the pentathlon at 4,746 points.
The multi-athlete set school records in the pentathlon, high jump (1.93m) and long jump (6.68m) in just two days of action.
In Colorado,
Tamia Badal of the University of Colorado copped two medals at the Jerry Quiller Classic in Colorado. The freshman won a silver in the women's 100m hurdles event with 14.14 and a bronze in the 400m hurdles (1:01.55).
At the Auburn Tiger Track Classic in Alabama, Joshua St Clair of the University of Alabama placed sixth in the men's 400m with 48.39. The junior then ran the second leg in the 4x400m relay and helped the "Crimson Tide" team to second place(3:12.88).
On the NJCAA circuit
On the junior/community collegiate scene, T&T also had several athletes getting success.
Jalen Purcell, a New Mexico Junior College (JC) freshman, finished runner-up in the men's 100m dash at the WTAMU Spring Break College meet in Amarillo, Texas. He clocked 10.39 to finish just ahead of compatriot and schoolmate Tyrell Edwards, who placed third with 10.53.
Their teammates, freshmen T&T's Aaron Brewster and Timothy Frederick, also faced the starter in the dash but the former placed seventh (10.80) and Frederick's time of 11.07 placed him 15th. Both raced in the 200m and it was Brewster coming out ahead in the 12th spot (22.30) and Frederick placed 16th (22.72).
Later, the trio of Frederick and Purcell running the first and second handovers, respectively and Edwards anchoring, carried New Mexico JC "A" team home with a 40.56-clocking.
They were challenged by New Mexico's "B" team which had T&T duo Brewster (anchor) and Onil Mitchell (second) in their line-up but they finished fifth (42.94) just ahead of sixth-place South Plains, which included T&T's Justin Guy, a freshman. His team crossed in 43.34.
His school mate freshman Camille Lewis raced in the women's 400m and she placed fifth (58.26). She later assisted her team in a gold-medal performance in the 4x400m relay final. Lewis ran the anchor leg and crossed in 3:50.95.
At the Richard Martin Jr Invitational in Conway, Arkansas, Butler CC freshman Jerod Elcock bagged a bronze in the men's 200m with a time of 21.63 (-1.2 wind).