The 21-year-old had jumps of 6.74m and 6.61m in the first two rounds before jumping out to her massive new personal best and world leading jump in the third. She subsequently passed on her next three jumps.
Oklahoma’s Pippi Lotta Enok produced 6.65m for second while Kansas State’s Shalom Olotu jumped 6.41 for third.
On the track, St. Lucians had an excellent day. First, Kansas’s Michael Joseph ran a personal best 44.77 to advance fastest into the men’s 400m final. Texas’s Jonathan Jones also advanced to the final with 45.70.
Then, Texas’s 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, Julien Alfred, produced 10.74, albeit with a 3.4m/s wind, to advance fastest to the women’s 100m final.
Texas also had the second and third fastest qualifiers to the women’s 100m final through Kevona Davis (10.93) and Ezinne Abba (10.93).
Bahamian Terrence Jones ran 10.35 to advance third fastest in the men’s equivalent.
The 100m hurdles saw Jamaican Texas Tech senior Demisha Roswell advance fastest with 12.92.
Roswell’s Bahamian Texas Tech teammate, Antoine Andrews, ran 13.57 to advance in the men’s 110m hurdles.
The highlight of day two was the women’s 100 meters hurdles final where Charlton was expected to be challenged by the versatile Charisma Taylor and 30-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II All-American Denisha Cartwright.
In the end, Charlton comfortably took the win in 12.62 seconds while Taylor was a distant second in 12.94 seconds. Cartwright rounded out the top three with 13.01 seconds.
All three are headed to the Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.
Texas Tech sophomore and former World U-20 Champion Antoine Andrews took the men’s 110m hurdles crown with a new personal best 13.34, eclipsing the previous national record 13.35 he shared with Jahmaal Wilson.
Rasheem Brown of the Cayman Islands was second in 13.50 while Otto Laing finished third in 14.03 seconds.
Due to a scheduling conflict, former world and current Olympic Champion Steven Gardiner missed the men’s 400m final last night. It was up to Wendell Miller and Grand Bahamian Alonzo Russell to carry the mantle.
However, they would fall short of the qualifying standard for the Olympics of 45 seconds flat.
Miller won the national title in 45.65 seconds. Russell finished second in 46.06 seconds and Gregory Seymour was third in 47.54 seconds.
The women’s 400m final, featuring former world and current Olympic Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and the lady who beat her in the heats Javonya Valcourt, will be ran on Friday.
Over to the field events, Shyrone Kemp pulled off an upset in the men’s long jump, winning that event with a leap of 7.66m. LaQuan Nairn, an 8m-plus jumper, had to settle for second with a jump of 7.58m while Jalen Cadet finished third with a jump of 7.16m.
Nairn has a personal best leap of 8.22m and the qualifying distance for the Olympics is 8.27m.
Anthaya Charlton won the women’s long jump event with a leap of 5.99m. Apryl Adderley was a distant second with a leap of 5.16m. The qualifying distance for the Olympics is 6.86m.
The pair advanced from the quarterfinals held on day three of the NCAA West Regionals in Sacramento on Friday.
Jones, the Bahamian Texas Tech junior, produced a time of 9.93, just .2 seconds slower than his personal best and national record-equaling 9.91 done earlier this season, to advance to the semis second-fastest from the West region. The 20-year-old also ran 20.21 to advance in the 200m.
Benjamin, the Trinidadian Minnesota Junior and reigning Big 10 100m champion, set a new personal best of 10.11 to advance. His countryman and Minnesota teammate, Carlon Hosten, ran 20.49 to advance in the 200m.
In the 400m, St. Lucian Kansas Junior Michael Joseph, advanced with 45.23
Jamaican Arkansas Junior Phillip Lemonious ran 13.45 to progress in the 110m hurdles. Joining him in Texas will be Bahamian Texas Tech freshman Antoine Andrews (13.74).
In the field, world leader and world junior record holder, Jaydon Hibbert, produced 16.81m to advance in the triple jump alongside teammates and countrymen Ryan Brown (16.25m) and Carey McLeod (15.88m).
Hibbert, still only 18, famously jumped an absurd 17.87m at the SEC Outdoor Championships on May 13, setting a new world lead, collegiate record and world under-20 record in the process.
Roje Stona (65.54m) and Ralford Mullings (61.74m), both of Arkansas, advanced in the discus. Stona also threw 19.89m to advance in the shot put.
On Wednesday, the Arkansas pair of Wayne Pinnock and Carey McLeod jumped 8.05m and 7.80m, respectively, to advance in the long jump. The Jamaican pair were the top two finishers at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
Meanwhile on the women’s side, their countrywoman, Texas sophomore Ackelia Smith, jumped 6.69m to lead all qualifiers. Nebraska’s Velecia Williams (6.37m) also advanced.
Smith is fresh off a personal best 7.08m, the furthest legal jump in the world this year, to win at the Big 12 Championships earlier in May.
At the Eastern Regionals in Jacksonville, Florida’s Jevaughn Powell (46.68), and North Carolina A&T’s Shemar Chambers (46.89) both made it through in the 400m.
In the sprint hurdles, Caymanian Tennessee senior Rasheem Brown ran 13.45 to advance alongside Jamaican Syracuse junior Jaheem Hayles (13.67).
Defending Jamaican national champion Navasky Anderson of Mississippi State (1:49.43) and Tarees Rhoden of Clemson (1:49.70) both made it through in the 800m.
It is not often that Hodge, the BVI’s sprint phenom, loses a race but even so still found a silver-lining when she finished second in the 100m behind Oklahoma’s Kennedy Blackmon, who took gold in 11.06.
Hodge’s 11.11 for second was a new personal best and a national record, eclipsing the 11.12 set in June 2011 by Tahesia Harrigan.
Success Umukoro of South Plains Junior College was third in 11.29.
Hodge would turn the tables on Blackmon in the 200m which she won in 22.31, which would have broken Harrigan’s national record of 22.98 had it not been for the five-metre-per-second trailing wind. Hodge, by the way, owns the World U20 200m indoor record of 22.33 set in Boston in March.
Blackmon finished second in 22.56 while Serena Clarke of Texas Tech was third in 23.07.
Anderson of the Bahamas ran out a comfortable winner in the 110m hurdles. The Texas Tech freshman clocked 13.46 as Justin Guy of South Plains and Taylor Rooney of Texas Tech ran 13.57 and 13.88 for second and third, respectively.
Roswell, the 2022 Big 12 100m hurdles champion Roswell was the only competitor under 13 seconds in the 100m hurdles taking the event in 12.89.
Her Texas Tech teammate Naomi Krebs, a freshman was second in 13.25. Nex Mexico’s Ese Awusa ran 13.57 for third place.
Smith, the 2023 Carifta Games U20 400m champion, had a battle on her hands but found enough to hold off Daneesha Davidson, clocking 56.66 to Davidson’s 56.69 in the blanket finish. Sylvia Schulz was third in 57.08.
Grace Obour of Western Texas College, by a wide margin, won the 400m in 52.71 over New Mexico’s Deshana Skeete, who took the runner-up spot in 54.02. Jamaica’s Rushana Dwyer who attends South Plains Junior College finished third after crossing the line in 54.43.
Zarik Brown of Oklahoma ran 45.38 for a comfortable victory in the men’s one-lap race with DeSean Bryce of Western Texas finishing in second place in 46.19. The South Plains duo of Kimar Farquharson and Jeremy Bembridge were third and fourth, respectively, in the same time of 46.28.
Nkrumie produced the record performance to win semi-final three and advance to the final scheduled for later on Tuesday. Grenada’s Nazzio John narrowly missed out on a place in the final despite a personal best 10.31 to finish third in semi-final three.
Jamaican National junior champion Sandrey Davison unfortunately fell to the track shortly after leaving the blocks after suffering an apparent leg injury in the second semi-final. Cuba’s Reynaldo Espinosa advanced as a fastest loser from that heat courtesy of a personal best 10.29 to finish third.
In the 110m hurdles, Antoine Andrews of the Bahamas ran 13.39 to win semi-final two and advance as the fastest qualifier. Jamaica's Demario Prince will join him in the final after a second-place finish in semi-final one in 13.58, a personal best.
Oakley, a former Clarendon College standout, was the fastest qualifier in Thursday’s heats at the Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium with 23.00 while Davis, a 200m semi-finalist at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, ran 23.32 in the heats to advance to Saturday’s final as the fifth fastest qualifier.
Oakley is fresh off running a new 200m personal best 22.73 at the Texas Invitational on April 26. She competed at last year’s Big 12 Championships, failing to advance from the heats of the 400m.
Davis was a runner up in both the 100m and 200m at last year’s Big 12 Outdoor Championships with times of 11.04 and 22.51. She was beaten by former Texas teammate and current World Indoor 60m champion Julien Alfred in both events.
The men’s 200m saw Jamaican Baylor senior Demar Francis (20.66) and Bahamian Texas Tech sophomore Antoine Andrews (20.74) both advance to the final.
Trinidadian Houston junior Dillon Leacock ran 51.83 to advance to the final of the 400m hurdles.
Andrews, a sophomore at Texas Tech University and 2022 World Under-20 champion, produced 13.37 to win the 110m hurdles with a 2.4 m/s wind behind him.
Howard University’s Samuel Bennett was second in 13.39 while UTEP’s Jordani Woodley, formerly of Rusea’s High in Jamaica, was third in 13.44.
Cartwright, a 24-year-old Minnesota State senior, produced 12.81 to win the 100m hurdles ahead of UTEP’s Marissa Simpson (12.92) and Cal’s Jada Hicks (12.99).
That race was run with a 2.7 m/s trailing wind.
In the field, Jamaican Arizona State junior Brandon Lloyd threw 61.54m for second in the men’s discus. South Alabama senior Francois Prinsloo threw 64.41m to take the win while Texas Tech senior Devin Roberson was third with 60.98m.
Clayton ran a lifetime best and new national U20 record of 10.95 to claim gold ahead of teammate and schoolmate Serena Cole who clocked 11.14 for the silver medal. American Shanti Jackson ran a personal best 11.15 for the bronze medal.
Clayton won her first U20 title in Nairobi, Kenya in 2019.
Earlier, Brian Level advanced to the finals of the men’s 200m. Level won his heat in a new lifetime best of 20.34.
In the final, he will face the 100m champion Letsile Tebogo of Namibia, who set a WorldU20 record of 9.91 in the final of the 100m on Wednesday. Jamaica’s Bouwahgjie Nkrumie ran a new national U20 record of 10.02 for the silver medal.
Jamaica has won five medals so far at these championships.
There was a surprise winner in the 110m hurdles with Bahamas’ Antoine Andrews taking the gold in a World U20 leading 13.23.
He capitalized massively after gold medal favourite Matthew Sophia crashed into the final hurdle and stumbled across the line in third in 13.34, having to take solace in the fact that he set a national U20 record.
The USA’s Malik Mixon clocked a personal best of 13.27 for the silver medal.
