Heading into the championships set for the Randall Tyson Indoor Track Centre, the 22-year-old Trinidadian, a Red Shirt Junior at Texas A&M, is the defending champion and perhaps favourite to win yet another pentathlon title.
So far this season, she has uncorked personal bests in three of the five disciplines – the high jump, long jump and 60m hurdles (8.34) - and is looking to follow up on her personal best score of 4612 points set at the Texas Tech Invitational in late January.
That score is the third-best collegiate performer score all-time and bettered her Texas A&M school record by 221 points.
“My season has definitely a good start to the new year I am not surprised at my performance. I have been working very hard over the summer. I have changed the way I trained, changed my mindset towards everything, including my training and I think that has created a great foundation for my season so far and the season I want to have in the future,” she told Sportsmax.TV on the eve of competition that runs from tomorrow until Friday.
“My PB in the high jump (1.91m) was definitely exciting. I love the pentathlon so I tend to do better. It’s a more relaxed environment so to be able to jump that in a pentathlon was definitely awesome.
“I have also done pretty well in the long jump; 6.62 is my PB and its definitely motivating. I feel this is just a really good start and this is just me transferring everything that I’ve learned and everything that I do in practice to competition. The only thing that changes is the people I competed against but my mentality towards everything is the same.”
Come tomorrow she has hopes of delivering another personal-best performance, one that will reflect the work she has been putting in in training.
“The shot put has also been going well training-wise but I have yet to show that in the competition so I am excited for tomorrow to get a big throw in there,” she said.
The situation is a blow to the athlete and her university as she had the fastest time of the participants in the 400m and is a key member of the A&M’s record-breaking mile relay team.
The 20-year-old former Hydel High School star in Jamaica said she was informed of the situation this morning.
“Due to Covid-19 trace, I will not be able to compete at the SECs. I do not have Covid but I was exposed two days prior to competing due to a teammate having it, and I was informed at 7:30 this morning,” a disappointed Young posted on social media today.
“It’s unfortunate but that is just the way it is and how the rules work. I do believe everything happens for a reason. Good luck to everyone competing this weekend.”
Young was supposed to begin the competition at 7:25 pm in Heat 1 of the 400m that also included Stephanie Davis of South Carolina, who has a season-best of 54.11, Taylor Manson of Florida, whose season-best is 52.74 and Jurnee Woodward of LSU, who fastest time this season is 54.85.
Young’s 51.93 season’s best is the second-fastest time in the NCAA this season only bettered by teammate Athing Mu’s 50.52 that was run at College Station, Texas on February 6. Mu is not down to compete in the 400m.
There are five heats in the women's 400m.
Young also split 51.12 in her team’s record-setting run of 3:26.27, an all-time collegiate record as well as a facility and meet record at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track Centre at Arkansas, where the SEC Championships are currently being held.
She ran the second-fastest split behind Mu’s 50.27 on the anchor leg.
Lloyd, an 18-year-old sprinter from Antigua, a sophomore, created a bit of school history while setting a personal best 7.15 to win the 60m dash in what was her first final and first medal at the indoor championships. Meanwhile, McLeod, 21, a junior, set a personal best and collegiate-leading 17.17m to win triple-jump gold.
Lloyd, who lowered her personal best twice leading up to the start of the championships last Thursday, lowered her time even further while winning the 60m dash on Saturday. The Antiguan powered through the field to snatch victory over Jayda Baylark of Arkansas, who also set a personal best time of 7.18.
Semira Killebrew of Florida was third in 7.21, also a season-best performance.
It is understandable that she was quite elated.
“It feels great to be an SEC 60m champion and a Vol right now,” said Lloyd, whose time was also a new national record.
“Throughout the season, I’ve been improving on my technique and reaction to the gun and there’s still more work to be done.”
Going into the final, her focus was on lowering her personal best of 7.20 set at the Tiger Claw Invitational in mid-February and which was Antigua’s previous national record.
“I didn’t have a specific time in mind to run for the 60 but my goals were to lower my PB and establish a new school record,” she said, explaining that the win was a singular one that will give her confidence for the remainder of the season.
“This win was special because I didn’t make it to the finals last year and I made it this time setting history as the First Lady Vol to win the 60m at the SECs. I’m confident that I will finish the indoor season strong at NCAA championships and make the Olympic standard this outdoor season.”
Meanwhile, McLeod, who won the silver medal in the long jump with a personal best of 8.25m on Friday night, followed up Saturday with his personal best jump to win the triple jump.
His 17.17m, was more than a half-metre better than second-place Christian Edwards of Alabama (16.64m) and Sean Dixon-Bodie of LSU 16.45m.
