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.
Speaking after his remarkable performance at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium in Baton Rogue, Hibbert revealed that his target for the meet was nowhere close to what he eventually unleashed. “The mark that I came out here with was 17.4/17.5 at max,” he said. “When I saw the 17.8, I just said ‘Okay, that’s it for me today,’ It’s all about trusting the process. God has shown me in plenty ways that I am talented. I am obviously favored. I do put in the hard work, but I have to give this one to God because I don’t think there is any 18-year-old that does the stuff that I do.”
Hibbert, who also set a World U20 and NCAA Indoor record of 17.54m this season, believes that he needs to stop putting limits on himself. “I am going to reset, refocus, get ready for regionals. I don’t even know if I’m going to peak until World Champs because I am not even at my peak right now and I am already close to 18m, so I am just going to go back to the drawing board, see what Coach Travis Geopfert says, just have fun and take it from there,” he said.
The 18-year-old’s jump is six centimeters farther than the previous world lead of 17.81m set by Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango on May 5, and is also a World U20, NCAA, and Facility record. Hibbert's jump is the second-best jump ever by a Jamaican, trailing James Beckford’s national record of 17.92m set in Odessa, Texas in May 1995, by a mere five centimeters.
Despite his success, Hibbert is remaining humble, stating, “That’s a mark amongst the greats. I am just an 18-year-old that started the event like three years ago, so, I don’t even know what to say. It’s still soaking in at this point.” However, his competitors will have to contend with the prodigious young athlete, who is likely to make his debut as not only a medal contender but a gold medal contender at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
The time, the 14th fastest in the world this year is the fastest by a Jamaican and is just over half a second shy of Seymour Newman’s national record of 1:45.21 set back in 1977.
The former St Jago athlete held off Sam Whitmarsh of Texas A&M and Georgia’s Claymore Pender, who each ran personal best times of 1:46.09 and 1:46.71 for second and third, respectively in the race where the top-six all produced lifetime best performances.
However, for Anderson, a junior at Mississippi State, this is where his quest to go beyond Newman’s 45-year-old record begins.
“My job here is just now getting started,” he told Sportsmax.TV on Sunday.
“My goal is not only to be the best 800m that passes through Jamaica but also to bring the awareness and the spotlight to the younger generation letting them know that we can be dominant in the 800m as well.
“I will stay humble and work, my times will speak for themselves in due time.”
The 21-year-old Anderson has had to put in the work over the past few years to get to this point where he is within touching distance of the long-standing national record that only a few other Jamaicans like Clive Terrelonge (1:45.44), Mario Watson (1:45.58) and Alex Morgan (1:45.58) have got close to.
“To be great in the 800m there has to be a constant shift in mechanism, being able to run a fast 400m or 200m repeats today and being to hit a steady 10 miles the next morning,” said Anderson who stands at a wiry 1.93m (6’ 4”).
“Not everyone has the same body type or is built the way I am. I stay fit with morning runs and coordinate with my strength coach to get workouts that are going to help me move forward at least two to three times weekly.”
The journey to this point has been difficult but he has never given up hope nor lost sight of his goals as an athlete even when things were not going according to plan while he was at St Jago.
“I started high school running the 400m and the 1500m, taking on the 1500m at champs for my first two years. I made the finals both years but it was constant downhill after that,” he said, explaining that he believes “It was just not my time. I was training to the best of my ability but I wasn’t able to compete at a high level at Champs.”
Notwithstanding those early disappointments, Anderson never gave up and his fortunes began to change when he moved on to Essex County College in the United States.
“I stayed motivated and worked with Coach Andrew Kidd, who helped me develop a strong endurance background. I then went to Coach Lionel Leech at Essex County College. From 1:57-mid, coach got me down to 1:52-low is less than two years,” he said.
“I then made a great decision to attend Mississippi State, the right 800m university where Coach Chris Woods worked tirelessly to get my time down from 1:52 to 1:45 and still in progress in less than two years. That is spectacular.”
He said he has no plans to rest on his ‘spectacular’ progress with his goal now clearly in sight.
“I’ll keep working and I’ll keep working,” he concluded.
Nickisha Pryce's inclusion on the list comes on the heels of her standout performance at the SEC Championships in Florida. The senior at the University of Arkansas blazed through the 400m in a remarkable 49.32 seconds, making her the second-fastest Jamaican woman ever over the distance. This achievement places her just shy of the national record held by Lorraine Graham at 49.30 seconds. Pryce's sensational debut on the Watch List underscores her rising prominence within the collegiate sprinting scene.
Pryce, who hails from St. Mary, Jamaica, also became the No. 3 collegian all-time in a race that featured four sub-50 collegians for the first time. She followed with an outdoor PR 22.67 for seventh in 200m. In the winter, she was runner-up in the 400 at both the SEC Indoor and NCAA Indoor 400 with a best of 50.83 while also clocking an absolute PR of 22.62 in the 200. Pryce is the 13th Arkansas woman named to the Watch List, leaving the Razorbacks behind only Oregon (18) and Texas A&M (15) all-time in that regard.
Meanwhile, Brianna Lyston, representing LSU and her hometown of Portmore, Jamaica, delivered a series of impressive performances at the SEC Championships. Lyston claimed victory in the 100 meters with a personal record time of 10.91 seconds, propelling her to the ninth-fastest all-time collegiately in this event. Additionally, she showcased her versatility by finishing fourth in the 200 meters (22.37 seconds) and contributing a strong lead leg for LSU's third-place 4x100 relay team (42.49 seconds). Lyston's consistency and speed both indoors and outdoors have earned her a remarkable sixth appearance on The Bowerman Watch List.
Among other notable athletes recognized on the latest edition of the Watch List are JaMeesia Ford from South Carolina (Sprints), Rachel Glenn from Arkansas (Hurdles/Jumps), and Jasmine Jones from Southern California (Sprints/Hurdles), highlighting the exceptional talent across various disciplines in collegiate track and field.
As Lyston and Pryce continue to push boundaries and raise the bar in their respective events, their achievements at the SEC Championships have rightfully secured their places on The Bowerman Watch List, a testament to their outstanding performances and potential in the world of track and field.
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.
The 18-year-old Jamaican demolished the World U20 record as well as the collegiate outdoor record in the triple jump this past weekend at the SEC Outdoor Championships when he produced a wind-legal 17.87m on his second attempt.
That added nearly one foot to the previous collegiate record of 17.57m, set by Keith Connor of SMU back in 1982.
Hibbert is now the holder of both the indoor and outdoor collegiate triple jump records. He shattered the collegiate indoor record in a winning effort at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March when he jumped 17.54m.
It was her second hold on the award and the first time an athlete has won it outright since 1997.
In two weeks, she will seek pentathlon redemption at the NCAA National Championships where she intends to break the collegiate record of 4703 points held by Georgia’s Kendall Williams.
“To win the Cliff Harper Award for the second time was definitely a good feeling. After my performance on Thursday, I was definitely down, I was definitely embarrassed, I was definitely upset but it’s all about the comeback. It’s all about how you come back from a terrible performance,” she told Sportsmax.TV.
“We are all human. We are all going to have those days as athletes but I was very proud of myself. This is my first time winning two gold medals at SECs and I was so happy to be able to put up 23 points. It’s reassuring knowing my team can rely on me and I know I can rely on myself to come back from devastating situations.”
Expected to do well in the pentathlon, after scoring a personal best 4612 points at the Texas Tech Invitational on January 29, things could not have gone worse for the 22-year-old Trinidadian in her efforts to defend the title she won in 2020.
The worst of those performances came in the long jump where she only managed to register a mark of 4.11m, well below her season-best of 6.62m.
She was forced to settle for sixth place, her score of 3818 points, a massive 703 shy of the 4501 scored by the newly crowned 2021 champion, Anna Hall of Georgia.
Despondent and embarrassed by her poor showing, Gittens turned to family for refuge.
“After talking to my family and talking to my sister, she played college volleyball, and she said anytime a negative thought would come in she would grab the thought and just throw it away and all of last night (Thursday) that is what I was doing,” she revealed.
“I wouldn’t even let it linger. As soon as I felt some negativity, I just grabbed it and threw it away and it worked because today (Friday) it was only positive and negative Tyra was out of sight.”
It worked.
Within an hour late Friday, Gittens won two gold medals for Texas A&M. First, cleared 1.89m – just shy of her personal best 1.91m - in the high jump to defeat LSU’s Abigail O’Donohogue and avenge her pentathlon loss to Hall, who were second and third, respectively, each having cleared 1.86m.
She then equalled her personal best (6.62m) to win the long jump ahead of LSU’s Aliyah Whisby (6.61m) and Georgia’s Titiana Marsh (6.39m).
“Today (Friday) was all about beating myself because yesterday I let the negative Tyra, the bad Tyra that we don’t like to see, overtake,” said an elated Gittens afterwards.
“I let her win yesterday and today (Friday) I relaxed, I had fun. I did everything that I wanted to do with executing and I cannot be happier. I am exhausted, but I am so proud of myself, and I am very happy.”
The comeback completed, redemption comes next and that will be the point of her focus over the next two weeks.
“These two weeks are going to be very important. I have a lot to work on,” she said. “I am going to use it to train and just get consistent and I am coming for the NCAA record.”
McLeod, a junior at Tennessee, jumped a personal best 8.34m for victory over the talented LSU junior Juvaughn Harrison, who jumped 8.24m for the silver medal. Bahamian Laquan Nairns, a senior at Arkansas, was third having jumped 8.04m.
The winning jump was a Bryan College-Station facility record and has McLeod as the fourth-best long jumper in Jamaican athletics history. Only 2019 World Champion Tajay Gayle’s (8.69), James Beckford (8.62) and Alain Bailey (8.35m) have jumped farther.
McLeod, who had an indoor best of 8.26m, lost to Harrison at the SEC Indoor Championships in February, said he was not motivated by revenge.
“I am definitely excited that I won but I was not thinking about revenge on anyone but coming off indoors I made so many mistakes and I just told myself that I was not going to make the same mistakes,” he said.
“I know I am capable of jumping far and once I get it right I am going to fly so that’s what I had to do and everything just came together at the right time.
“It’s not every meet that you’re going to win so it was more about being patient; the jumps will come when it matters the most. Indoors wasn’t my favourite, I love outdoors more so I take outdoors way more seriously.”
Notwithstanding his relative dislike for jumping indoors, McLeod carried his good form outdoors, which he believes he will carry into the summer for the Olympics in Tokyo where he intends to be at his best.
“From indoors I was jumping well so I just brought over the same energy and just started focusing on the simple things I was doing wrong. I made more technical adjustments like my approaches and my jump,” he said.
“I still wasn’t perfect on my 8.34m so there is a lot more in the tank. The peaking season is all the way down in summer at the Olympics so I am definitely looking forward to that, so I am taking it meet by meet, putting in all the preparation needed to be among the best because the long jump is going to be the event where everyone is jumping far and I want to be jumping far too.”
Meanwhile, fellow Jamaican Damion Thomas was second in the 110m hurdles. The LSU graduate clocked 13.25 losing to Alabama's Robert Dunning, who ran a personal-best 13.15. Thomas' LSU teammate Eric Edwards Jr was third in 13.27.
The former Hydel High and St. Jago High athlete won ahead of Georgia’s Kaila Jackson, who wasn’t far behind in second with 10.95, and LSU’s Thelma Davies who ran 11.01 in third.
She then ran 22.37 for fourth in the 200m final. Ole Miss’s McKenzie Long ran 22.03 for gold ahead of South Carolina’s JaMeesia Ford (22.11) and LSU’s Thelma Davies (22.17).
Earlier, she helped LSU take bronze in the women’s 4x100m in 42.49 behind Ole Miss (42.47) and Tennessee (42.42).
The 19-year-old Lyston ran wind assisted times of 10.87 and 10.84 earlier this season. She also claimed the indoor 60m titles at both the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships in February and March.
In the men’s 100m final, Bahamian Florida junior Wanya McCoy ran a personal best 10.02 for second behind LSU’s Godson Oghenebrume who successfully defended his title in 9.99. Tennessee’s T’Mars McCallum ran 10.03 in third.
McCoy also ran a personal best 19.93 for second in the 200m behind Alabama’s Tarsis Orogot who ran a meet record 19.75 to take gold. Auburn’s Makanakaishe Charamba ran 20.00 for third
The 400m saw reigning Jamaican national champion Nickisha Pryce move to second all-time for Jamaica in the event with a brilliant 49.32 to win gold. Kaylyn Brown (49.47) and Amber Anning (49.51) took second and third to complete an Arkansas 1-2-3.
This is just a day after Pryce ran her previous personal best 49.72 to advance to the final.
Pryce's time is just outside of Lorraine Fenton's Jamaican record 49.30 set back in 2002.
Barbadian Tennessee senior Rasheeme Griffith ran 49.24 for third in the men’s 400m hurdles final behind Alabama’s Chris Robinson (48.43) and Tennessee’s Clement Ducos (47.69).
The women’s event saw Jamaican Ole Miss sophomore Gabrielle Matthews run a personal best 55.12 to win ahead of Georgia’s Dominique Mustin (55.60) and LSU’s Shani’a Bellamy (56.40).
The LSU sophomore, who ran 22.31 on Thursday to secure her spot in the 200m final, came back a day later to run 11.09 to be the joint-fastest qualifier for Saturday’s final alongside collegiate leader Jacious Sears of Tennessee.
Bahamian Florida junior Wanya McCoy and Jamaican Georgia freshman Jehlani Gordon advanced to the men’s 100m final as the second and ninth fastest qualifiers with 10.09 and 10.17, respectively.
The women’s 400m prelims saw Arkansas senior Nickisha Pryce become the eighth-fastest Jamaican ever in the event.
Pryce, who is Jamaica’s reigning national champion, ran a personal best and collegiate leading 49.72 to advance to the final as the fastest qualifier ahead of teammate Kaylyn Brown who ran 49.86.
LSU sophomore Jahiem Stern produced 13.45 to advance to the final of the 110m hurdles.
In the field, the Jamaican Arkansas pair of Romaine Beckford and Wayne Pinnock won gold in the high jump and long jump, respectively.
Beckford had a best clearance of 2.22m to win ahead of LSU’s Kuda Chadenga (2.19m) and Ole Miss’s Arvesta Troupe (2.14m).
Pinnock, a sliver medalist at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, jumped 8.09m to successfully defend his SEC title.
Georgia’s Micah Larry produced 7.80m for second while Florida’s Caleb Foster was third with the same distance.
Williams, a three-time Olympic silver medalist who also won five silver medals at the World Championships, came agonizingly close to breaking the national record herself at the 2009 championships in Berlin, where she finished as runner-up to Jamaican-born American Sanya Richards.
Having closely followed Pryce’s progression over the years, Williams expressed her belief in the 23-year-old SEC champion’s potential to surpass Fenton’s longstanding record. In an exclusive chat with Sportsmax.TV, Williams shared her insights: “I have been watching her progress and how much she has grown in the event. I do believe she has the ability to break the national record if she remains focused, continues to stay healthy, and avoids overworking herself.”
Reflecting on Pryce’s athletic prowess, Williams continued, “We both share the joint second-fastest time. From observing her performances indoors and outdoors, she runs smoothly with apparent ease, and her 200m speed complements her 400m ability. Lorraine’s record has stood for years, and despite attempts from myself, Novelene (Williams), and others, it remains unbroken. I hope Nikisha can achieve this feat and also secure a spot on the Olympic team, reaching the final and delivering a performance worthy of a medal.”
Williams, who shares a similar physique to Pryce, believes that breaking the record is within reach. Recalling her near-miss in 2009, she noted, “I was in 48-second shape going into the championships based on my training. However, I didn’t execute my race properly; my third 100 meters was too slow. Breaking the record hinges on how well you manage each 100 meters, and with the leg speed I possessed, I truly believe I could have set a new record, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get my race strategy right.”
Despite her near-miss, Williams holds high hopes for Pryce, the current senior at the University of Arkansas. “I wish her all the best, and I will be cheering her on,” Williams concluded, expressing optimism that Pryce could achieve what she and many others have aimed for but fallen short of accomplishing.
The 21-year-old former Kingston College star won the silver medal in the long jump with a personal best of 8.25m on Friday night and 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).
Each mark is the third-best in the world this year and McLeod believes things are shaping up nicely for what he believes will be his first Olympic campaign.
“All my preparation is for the upcoming Olympic Games so it’s going to be special as we gear up for trials and the Olympics,” he said. “I’m a lot more technical and I am faster which I need down the runway.”
His improvement at Tennessee has been significant but he credits his time at Kingston College for providing him with the platform from which he now excels.
“Having the right foundation from high school to now has played a huge part in my development over these years and, of course, being a student of the events is key,” he said, still undecided about which event he favours.
“I can’t say which one I prefer because I love both just the same; the triple is just a little more fun than the long jump,” he said.
His world-class performances aside, McLeod said he is encouraged by the number of emerging young Jamaican jumpers.
Fellow Jamaican Ryan Brown, a junior at Arkansas, jumped 8.12 for third at the SECs while Virginia’s Owayne Owens jumped a season-best 16.48m to win the triple jump at the ACC Championships on the weekend.
Adding eight-metre jumpers, 2019 World Champion Tajay Gayle and Tennessee’s Wayne Pinnock to the mix, McLeod believes Jamaica is poised to do great things in the jumps in the future.
“We all are the younger generation coming up in the sport. We have goals of representing our country, so this is a very good look for the country as we could have multiple people on the podium,” he said.
“I can happily say we are on the rise to taking over in the jumps in the years to come.”
