Texas’s Julien Alfred will have a chance to defend her NCAA Outdoor 100m title after securing her spot in the field on the final day of the NCAA West Regionals in Sacramento on Saturday.

The 21-year-old St. Lucian, who won the NCAA Indoor 60m and 200m double earlier this season, sped to a meet record and collegiate leading time of 10.83 to comfortably be the fastest qualifier to the Championships set for June 7-10 on her home track at the University of Texas's Mike A. Myers stadium.

Her Jamaican teammate, Kevona Davis, also made it through the preliminaries with an 11.06 effort.

The Texas duo also made it through in the 200m with Davis running a season’s best 22.33 and Alfred running 22.45.

Arkansas’s Ackera Nugent, a two-time NCAA Indoor Champion, ran 12.69, a new meet record to advance fastest in the sprint hurdles. Her countrywoman, Texas Tech’s Demisha Roswell, also made it through with a season’s best 12.77.

Arkansas’s Nickisha Price and Joanne Reid both advanced in the one-lap event with personal best times of 50.49 and 51.49, respectively.

In the field, defending NCAA high jump champion, Lamara Distin of Texas A&M, easily cleared 1.85m to secure her opportunity to defend her title. Texas’s Ackelia Smith, world leader in the long jump, also booked her spot in the field for the triple jump with 13.96m.

Meanwhile, at the East Regionals in Jacksonville, Ohio State’s Yanique Dayle and Kentucky’s Anthaya Charlton made it through in the 100m.

Dayle, the Jamaican Senior, produced a big personal best 11.05 while Charlton, the Bahamian Freshman, produced 11.08 (2.3 m/s) to advance.

Dayle also advanced in the 200m with a season’s best 22.58 while LSU’s Brianna Lyston also made it through with 22.92.

In the field, Georgia’s Vincentian Junior, Mikeisha Welcome, jumped 13.50m to make it through in the triple jump.

 

Jamaican Arkansas junior Wayne Pinnock produced a personal best 8.37m to successfully defend his South East Conference (SEC) Championship long jump title at Louisiana State University (LSU) on Friday.

The 22-year-old, who jumped 8.05 to win the SEC title last year, also produced jumps of 8.15m and 8.02m in his series on Friday. His winning jump puts him number two in the world currently behind India’s Jeswin Aldrin (8.42m) and is the World Championships qualifying standard.

Pinnock’s countryman and Arkansas teammate, Carey McLeod, produced 8.14m for second while Mississippi State’s Cameron Crump was third with a best jump of 8.00m.

Bahamian Kentucky freshman Anthaya Charlton produced a personal best 6.74m for second in the women’s equivalent behind Florida star Jasmine Moore, who jumped 6.88 for victory. Moore’s teammate, Claire Bryant, was third with 6.68m.

On the track, Arkansas’s Ackera Nugent advanced to the finals of both the 100m and 100m hurdles.

The Jamaican ran 12.49 to advance third fastest in the 100m hurdles and returned to run 11.16 to advance third fastest in the 100m.

Anthaya Charlton, the runner-up in the long jump, produced another personal best, 11.11, to advance to the 100m final as well. Tennessee’s Jacious Sears advanced fastest with 11.08.

Shiann Salmon, Jordan Turner and Anthaya Charlton were among the winners on day one of the 2023 Michael Johnson Invitational held at the Clyde Hart Stadium in Texas on Friday.

Adidas’ Salmon, silver medallist at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, produced 57.30 to win the Women’s 400m hurdles. Texas Tech’s Simone Watkins ran a personal best 59.54 in second while Texas A&M University-Commerce’s Naomi Ndukwe ran 59.92, also a personal best, in third.

Salmon’s Adidas counterpart, Ashanti Moore, produced a personal best 22.62 for third in the Women’s 200m behind Adidas’ Anavia Battle (22.58) and World Championship finalist Abby Steiner’s stadium record 22.30. On day two, Moore ran a season's best 11.12 to win the 100m ahead of Puma's Steiner (11.19) and Kentucky's Karimah Davis (11.32).

On Saturday, Salmon ran 52.04 for second in the 400m behind Baylor’s Imaobong Nse Uko who ran 51.66 for victory. Northwestern State’s Sanaria Butler ran 52.19 for third.

Turner, the 20-year-old Jamaican Kentucky freshman, continued his solid form this season with 7.80m to win the Men’s long jump ahead of another Jamaican, Nebraska sophomore Kavian Kerr, who jumped 7.70m. Northwestern State’s Andrew Gilreath was third with 7.45m.

Turner’s Kentucky teammate, Bahamian freshman Anthaya Charlton, took first place in the Women’s equivalent with 6.39m ahead of Iowa’s Tiona Tobias and Ashley McElmurry, who both produced a best jump of 6.25m.

Also on Saturday, Texas Tech’s Demisha Roswell ran 12.84 for second in the 100m hurdles behind collegiate record holder, Masai Russell of Kentucky, who ran a stadium record 12.50 for the win. Adidas’s Sharika Nelvis ran 13.01 for third.

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