University of Alabama senior, T&T's Portious Warren, took second in the shot put and her Crimson Tide's 4x400-metre relay team which includes T&T's Mauricia Prieto, broke a 32-year old school record on the way to qualifying for the final at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Mike A Myers Stadium on the University of Texas campus in the US on Friday.
The only thrower with more than one toss better than 59 feet, Warren had a tremendous finals series, with four consecutive throws of 18 metres or better. That series included a best effort 18.11m, which led the competition until Arizona State's Samantha Noennig posted a career-best 18.14m to edge past Warren for the win.
Warren, who was third in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March after finishing 11th at last year's outdoor champions, set the school record in the shot put during the outdoor season, with a toss of 18.61m. The only Alabama women's shot putter to post a mark over 57 feet, she owns the top-10 throws in school history, with four of them coming last night.
"After not scoring at this meet last year I'm grateful to finish in the top two tonight. It just shows how much coach (Derek Yush) has prepared me to be the athlete that I am and put me into a better position moving forward into the pros," said Warren on her school's website.
The Crimson Tide's last race of the night, the semifinals of the 4x400m relay, saw juniors Takyera Roberson, Katie Funcheon, Prieto and Natassha McDonald, running in that order, break the previous school mark to win their semifinal heat and advance to final carded for last night with a time of 3:28.51. The previous school standard of 3:28.56 was set in 1987.
T&T's Tyriq Horsford was part of the Mississippi State University (MSU) unit that made history on Wednesday night.
The freshman placed third as his teammate sophomore Anderson Peters defended his national title in the javelin while leading his teammates to the first sweep of the podium in the event since 1964.
Horsford started off slowly with a foul and a 70.97m (232-10) throw on his first two attempts. Sitting in sixth place, he vaulted to the bronze-medal position on his third attempt with a mark of 75.59m (248-0).
State’s trio posted just the 11th sweep of any event podium in NCAA history. The most recent came in 2015 when Oregon claimed the podium in the men’s 1500m. The Ducks’ 1964 squad is the only other trio to do so in the men’s javelin, and that was before the implement was changed in 1986. MSU has won the national title in the event in three of the last four years.
Curtis Thompson closed his outstanding Bulldog career with another All-American performance. The 2016 national champion threw 78.43m (257-3) to finish second.
Louisiana State University (LSU) Akanni Hislop crossed fifth in heat three of the men's 200m dash in a time of 20.42 to place 10th overall, not fast enough to advance to the final
In the men’s 4x100m relay, Hislop and teammate Kary Vincent Jr were unable to successfully make the first exchange and LSU did not finish the race.
Meanwhile, Texas A&M sophomore Tyra Gittens led the heptathlon through the first day, Friday, with a career-best tally of 3,872 points and was ahead of the field by 161 points.