Oregon

Nelson, who turned 21, in February, spent her first two years of college at the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica, before making the move to the University of Oregon last December.

After a solid indoor season during which she was crowned national 60m champion, Nelson capped off her year with a 10.90s run that saw her finish behind Cambrea Sturgis 10.74, Twanisha Terry 10.79 and Tamara Clarke 10.88. The trailing wind was 2.2m/s but Nelson had run a wind-legal 10.98 in the preliminary rounds the week before.

One would have thought that finishing out of the top three would have been a disappointment for the young Jamaican, especially after she was involved in a mishap that ended up with a dropped baton in the 4x100m relay.

However, for Nelson, when one considers what she endured before ending up at Oregon, the just-concluded season was not such a bad one after all.

“A year ago, I left NACAC with a messed up Achilles and Pan Am in a wheelchair with a Grade 2 hamstring tear. Six months later, I strained my other hamstring and so I decided to leave my previous camp four months after this incident,” she said in her posts on social media on Sunday.

“Fast forward six months into my collegiate career. I broke the Indoor Collegiate Record, Meet Record, School Record, 5th Jamaican all-time over 60m, rank 2nd in the world over 60m. Outdoor season with dipping 4 times under 11 seconds. 4th fastest collegiate over 100m in the NCAA. And oh yeah, I’m all-American. Incredible season!”

Nelson will now rest up before flying to Jamaica to see if her year can get even better by earning a spot on Jamaica’s team to the Tokyo, Olympics in July.

The 22-year-old Nelson, a senior at the University of Oregon, was the third-fastest heading into the final after clocking 11.23 during her preliminary round heat. USC’s Celera Barnes (11.16) and California’s Ezinne Abba (11.20) were faster going in.

However, in the final on Sunday, Nelson, who has a personal best of 10.98, turned on the afterburners and lead from start to finish to win in a season-best 11.05. Abba clocked 11.13 for second place while Barnes finished third in 11.21.

A half-hour later, Nelson lined up in the 200m final and this time produced a personal best 22.74 to take victory over Abba, who ran 22.91 for the runner-up spot. Shae Anderson of UCLA took the final podium spot in 23.04.

Nelson was also a member of Oregon’s 4x100m relay team that won gold in a season-best of 42.91 over USC ‘A’ in 43.45 and UCLA ‘A’ 43.77, which were second and third, respectively.

Nelson’s points helped Oregon’s Women win the championships with 167 points. Colorado finished second with 102 points with California third with 82 points. USC with 78 points and Washington with 68 points rounded out the top five schools.