Newly crowned NCAA champion Rivaldo Marshall has thrown his name into a growing pool of promising athletes in the 800m for Jamaica.
The 22-year-old University of Iowa Junior produced 1:46.96 to take gold at the NCAA Indoor Championships held in Boston from March 7-9.
Another member of that pool of promising Jamaican 800m runners, Clemson Senior Tarees Rhoden, ran 1:47.79 for fifth while Vincentian Penn State Sophomore Handal Roban ran 1:48.16 to finish seventh.
“I’m excited. Been working hard these past few weeks and my coach told me just come out here and do my thing,” Marshall said in a post-race interview.
Marshall entered the final lap of the final in second and produced an excellent display of both speed and strength to outlast his opponents and take the title.
“I told myself that once it’s the last lap, no one’s beating me. I train to go as hard as possible in the last lap,” he said.
His winning time was just outside his personal best 1:46.86 done to win at the Tyson Invitational on February 10.
Two weeks later, Marshall had a disappointing showing at the Big 10 Indoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio, running 1:49.32 for fifth.
He said that performance was motivation for him.
“At the Big10 meet, I didn’t run that well and I used that as motivation to work hard these past few weeks,” he said.
This wasn’t the first taste of success on the collegiate circuit for the former Calabar High star.
Before transferring to the University of Iowa ahead of this season, Marshall previously competed for Indian Hills Community College where he won gold at the 2022 NJCAA Outdoor Championships with 1:50.82.
That same year, Marshall took silver at the NJCAA Indoor Championships with 1:51.30. A year later, he took bronze in 1:48.10.
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Tarees Rhoden (1:45.97) and Oneka Wilson (12.87) run personal bests to win 800m, 100m hurdles gold at ACC Outdoor Championships
Jamaica now has another man under 1:46.00 in the 800m in the form of Clemson senior Tarees Rhoden.
Rhoden ran a personal best 1:45.97 to claim gold at the ACC Outdoor Championships in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday.
Wake Forest junior Rynard Swanepoel ran 1:46.69 for second while Virginia senior Shane Cohen ran 1:46.89 in third.
The 23-year-old former Kingston College standout, who was eighth in the final last season, entered Saturday’s race with a personal best of 1:46.20 done last April.
Clemson also took gold in the women's 100m hurdles through Jamaican sophomore Oneka Wilson who ran a brilliant personal best 12.87 to win ahead of Florida State's Alexandra Webster (13.04) and Duke's Skyla Wilson (13.26).
Wilson's previous personal best 13.00 was done on Friday in the prelims.
Lawrence produces personal best to win shot put at ACC Outdoor Championships
Jamaican Clemson junior Courtney Lawrence produced a personal best 19.75 to win shot put gold at the ACC Outdoor Championships in Atlanta on Friday.
The former Petersfield High standout and 2021 NACAC Under-23 champion produced three throws over 19m throughout his series to take the title ahead of Notre Dame’s Michael Schoaf (19.38m) and Wake Forest’s Thomas Kitchell (19.16m).
Jamaican Florida State sophomore Jordan Turner jumped 7.90m for second in the men’s long jump behind teammate Jeremiah Davis who jumped 7.97m for the win. Miami’s Russell Robinson was third with 7.82m.
Moving to the track where Lawrence’s schoolmate, Oneka Wilson, produced a personal best 13.00 to advance to the final of the women’s 100m hurdles as the fastest qualifier.
Another Jamaican Clemson standout, senior Tarees Rhoden, made it through to the final of the men's 800m with a 1:49.17 effort to finish second in his heat.
Texas A&M’s Farquharson establishes new meet record to win 800m at Alumni Muster
Jamaican Texas A&M junior Kimar Farquharson continued his winning ways in the 800m this season with victory at the Alumni Muster held in College Station, Texas on Saturday.
The former Calabar High star was in dominant form, winning the event in 1:47.26, a new meet record.
More than two seconds behind Farquharson in second was teammate Caden Norris (1:49.62) while Tracksmith’s Luca Chatham was third in 1:50.71.
This was Farquharson’s second 800m win of the season as he ran 1:46.69 to beat countrymen Navasky Anderson and Tarees Rhoden to victory at the Tom Jones Memorial in Florida on April 13.
Interestingly, the 22-year-old has also established a new personal best in the 400m this season with 45.70 at the Battle of the Bayou in Baton Rouge on March 30.
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