At the meet held at Demirjian Park in Champaign, Illinois, the Jamaican freshman won the 400m hurdles on Friday in 58.63 over Illinois freshman Franklin Jessica who clocked 58.99. Her Minnesota teammate Val Larson was third in 59.17. Her winning time was the fastest time in the conference so far this season.
Then on Saturday, Schaaffee anchored a team of Jayla Campbell, Janielle Josephs and Larson, to victory in the 4x400m relay in a conference-leading 3:38.40.
Illinois ran 3:42.01 for second place while a second team from Minnesota was third in 3:52.10.
The 2019 ISSA Boys and Girls Championships 800m bronze medalist was delighted with her weekend’s work but said there was still room for improvement, especially in the one-lap hurdles event.
“I am feeling pleased about my time and the performance,” she said. “I just need to work on my technique some more which would give me a faster time going into the championship.
“I have been working on my start, as in getting to the first hurdle in a faster spilt. My coach catches a spilt to each hurdle; my progression with that has been fluctuating. I get better then I go back to what I was doing another day. But I am just working on being consistent.”
Meanwhile, she was quite pleased with her leg of the mile relay, saying: "It felt good. I just want to get down to a faster split so we run a faster time."
Nedrick, who represented the University of Minnesota in NCAA athletics this past indoor season, was charged on Tuesday with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, following allegations that he raped a woman in her campus apartment. He remains in jail on a USD$75,000 bond.
According to the Star Tribune, UMN has suspended him from team activities.
Reports said the police were called at about 1:15 am to the apartment where the woman told officers that she was there celebrating her roommate’s 21st birthday with friends on Monday night.
The woman said she went to aid her roommate, who was throwing up in the bathroom. When the woman left the bathroom, Nedrick pushed her into her bedroom and onto her bed.
Nedrick got on top of her as she said, “I don’t want to do this,” the criminal complaint read.
The woman reported that she estimated Nedrick's weight at 300 pounds and suspected he “had a lot to drink.”
She claimed that the assault continued until he let her check on her ailing roommate.
She reported what had happened to a building security agent came into the apartment.
Upon Nedrick’s arrest, physical evidence was collected from his mouth and hands.
The woman underwent a sexual assault examination at a hospital, where she “provided a consistent account” to the nurse, the charging document read.
The nurse noted bruises on the woman’s left forearm and fresh marks on her neck.
While at Petersfield High School, Nedrick won gold after setting a national junior record of 20.65m at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships in 2017.
He won a scholarship to Barton County and in 2018 he had top-five finishes in the NJCAA Outdoor Championships with third-place finishes in the shot put and discus and fourth place in the javelin.
He was the runner up in the shot put at the NJCAA Indoor Championships.
In 2019, he won the NJCAA national title in the shot put with a throw of 18.14 m and the NJCAA Region VI title in shot put.
Earlier this year, competing for UMN, Nedrick earned his first letter in track & field. He finished seventh in the shot put at the Big Ten Indoor Championships • recorded a career-best throw of 19.05 m to place fourth in the shot put at the Meyo Invite.
It was under Woolery’s guidance that Nedrick rose to prominence in high school track and field in Jamaica that culminated with the youngster setting a new national junior shot put record of 20.96m in 2017.
Nedrick, 21, who, for the time being, has a court-appointed attorney, appeared before the court today having been accused of raping a woman at a birthday celebration held at a campus apartment at the University of Minnesota where he is a student.
Woolery said the news has left him shaken.
“I am most definitely (shocked). These are the things that I don’t expect from him,” Woolery told Sportsmax.TV on Wednesday, adding that he believed that Nedrick was getting to the level where he would have been expected to win a spot on Jamaica’s team to the Tokyo Olympics.
The disheartened coach said he speaks Nedrick at least once a week via a Whatsapp group chat. Social interactions and relations, Woolery said, are among the things they speak about each week.
However, he has not spoken to him since the incident because Nedrick has been in lock up and does not have access to his phone.
The development is particularly devastating for Woolery, who played an integral role in rescuing Nedrick from the Clifton Boys Home in Darliston, Westmoreland, during his early years at Petersfield High.
His intervention resulted in Nedrick being among the first male student-athletes housed at a boarding facility at the school.
Meanwhile, Irwin Clare of Team Jamaica Bickle said the organisation is doing everything possible to help the beleaguered thrower. The first order of business, Clare said, was to get him out of jail. Nedrick is being held on a USD$75,000 bond.
Following today’s court hearing a determination is to be made as to how much should be paid to get him out on bond. Once that is done, they will set about raising the necessary funds, Clare said. TBJ is also working to put a legal team together to mount a defence for the thrower.
Schaaffe, 20, a graduate of St Mary’s High School in Jamaica, is coming off a three-gold medal performance on the NCAA Indoor circuit that already has her in the university’s record books.
Last Friday at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational at the University of Iowa, she won the 600m in 1:30.99, a top-six all-time performance for UM. Then, on Saturday, she clocked 55.53 to win the 400m. She was also a member of her school’s mile relay team that also won gold at the meet in 3:40.93.
Her wins helped UM women win the team title with 129.5 points ahead of Nebraska’s 91.
With those medals in the bag, she is now aiming for something greater at the Big 10 championships coming up on February 25.
“I want to run sub 1:30 by the Big Ten Championship,” she told Sportsmax.TV earlier this week, “I aimed at it in my race last Friday but I’ll definitely be working towards it.”
The Kinesiology major believes breaking 1:30 is on the cards because of the speed at which she has been adjusting to running indoors and to living in Minnesota.
“Yes, it was challenging at first but as time progresses and I am constantly doing it I realize that I have adjusted so much better,” she said.
“My coach always compliments me on adjusting to the weather and my transition into their program so I think I am doing well in that aspect.”
In 2019, Schaaffe was third at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships in Jamaica, in a personal best 2:08.83 behind standouts Charokee Young of Hydel High and Petersfield’s Shaquena Foote.
