(from left) Lamara Distin, Brianna Lyston, Romaine Beckford
Lamara Distin of Texas A&M once again etched her name in the record books, as she became the first female high jumper in NCAA history to clear 2.00m (6-6.75) at the South-Eastern Conference (SEC) indoor championships at the Tyson Sports Complex in Fayetteville, on Saturday.
The 22-year-old Distin, who won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and was a finalist at last year’s World Championships, once again demonstrated her class and rich vein of form in her winning mark.
Along with rewriting her previous national record of 1.97m set last year, Distin also shattered her own meet record of 1.95m, as well as the previous championship record of 1.98m set by Hooker Tex in 2016. She also equaled the facility record.
Distin won ahead of Arkansas’ Rachel Glenn (1.94m) and University of Georgia’s Elena Kulichenko (1.91m). Another Jamaican Nia Robinson or Arkansas was 12th with a new personal best mark of 1.75m.
Jamaica’s Romaine Beckford representing Arkansas also topped the men’s high jump after clearing the bar at 2.25m. He won ahead of Mississippi State’s Sherman Hawkins (2.16m) and Texas A&M’s Ushan Perera (2.11m).
On the track, Brianna Lyston of Louisiana State University, also continued her rich vein of form when she clocked a meet record equalling 7.08 to win the women’s 60m final. She equalled the time set by another Jamaican Remona Burchell of University of Alabama in 2015.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Hibbert produces world leading 17.75m to take top spot at Racers Grand Prix
World Under-20 record holder Jaydon Hibbert produced a world leading 17.75m to win the triple jump at the Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday.
Hibbert opened his competition with 16.45m in the first round before going out to 17.14m in the second round, giving the National Stadium crowd a sign of things to come.
The third round saw him produce a then-meet record of 17.30m before, in round four, he produced a stadium record and world leading 17.75m to secure the victory.
O’Brien Wasome produced 16.64m for second while Jordan Scott was third with 16.06m.
“I was satisfied with the third and fourth jump of the series,” Hibbert said after the competition.
Seville outduels Lyles to claim 100m title at Racers Grand Prix; Alfred runs personal best to claim title in women’s equivalent
Oblique Seville and Julien Alfred produced a pair of scintillating performances to claim the 100m titles at the Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday.
Seville produced a personal best and world leading 9.82 to claim the men’s race ahead of American World champion Noah Lyles and Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala.
Lyles’s time in second was a season’s best 9.85 while Omanyala ran 10.02 in third.
“I came out here in front of my Jamaican fans looking for a personal best and to get it today means a lot to me,” Seville said after the race.
“I just came out here to deliver. You’re always going to have ups and downs with the wind but you just have to run through it,” he added.
“As long as I’m healthy, expect good things,” was Seville’s response when asked about what fans can expect from him at Jamaica’s Olympic trials set for June 27-30.
In the women’s equivalent, St. Lucian World Indoor champion Julien Alfred sped to a personal best and meet record 10.78 to win ahead of Krystal Sloley who broke 11 seconds for the first time with 10.99 in second and Shashalee Forbes who ran a season’s best 11.05 in third.
Alfred says she didn’t expect to run that fast.
“I wanted to come out here and just work on execution. I didn’t expect that time and that’s why I was smiling so much,” she said.
Smikle produces 65.65m to win discus throw at Racers Grand Prix
Reigning Jamaican national champion Traves Smikle took the win in the men’s discus throw at the Racers Grand Prix at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday.
Smikle, a five-time national champion, produced 65.65m to win ahead of Samoa’s Alex Rose who threw 65.02m and American Reggie Jagers III who threw 64.64m.
Despite the win, Smikle admitted that his performance wasn’t up to his usual world class standards.
“I wasn’t my best today based on my standard and how I know I am but, at the same time, I’m in a competition where I have to go out there and do it, I’m competing against some of the best in the world and I am in my home town so I had to deliver,” Smikle said.
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