Bahamian Auburn University Tigers sophomore Keyshawn Strachan produced a best throw of 74.63m in the men’s javelin competition of the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round competition at the University of Kentucky Track & Field Complex in Lexington, Kentucky, on Wednesday.

With the throw, the CARIFTA Under-20 record holder advanced to the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championships for the first time.

The 20-year-old finished third in the Wednesday’s competition, with all three of his throws (70.54m, 71.37m, 74.63m) surpassing 70m.

His personal best and Bahamian national record 84.27m was done at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in 2023 at the Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Wanya McCoy, a junior for the University of Florida Gators, moved on to the quarterfinals of the men’s 100 and 200m, winning his heats in 10.29 seconds and 20.34 seconds respectively.

He finished tied with the sixth fastest time going into the quarters in both events, and will have to finish among the top 12 to move on to the NCAA Championships.

McCoy was a runner-up in both the 100m and 200m at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Gainesville earlier this month.

Also advancing in the 100m were Caymanian two-time Carifta U-20 gold medallist Davonte Howell of Tennessee (10.35), Jamaica’s Jehlani Gordon of Georgia (10.41) and T&T’s Omari Lewis on Liberty (10.39).

Jamaican Florida State Seminoles sophomore Jordan Turner also advanced to the NCAA Championships after jumping 7.74m to finish fourth in the men’s long jump.

American Championship Conference (ACC) outdoor shot-put champion Courtney Lawrence of Clemson also booked his spot at the NCAA Championships with a throw of 19.61m to finish sixth.

Jamaican LSU sophomore, Jahiem Stern, ran 13.38 to lead all qualifiers to the quarterfinals in the men’s sprint hurdles set for Friday.

Clemson senior and ACC Outdoor champion Tarees Rhoden made it through to the quarterfinals in the men’s 800m with 1:47.89 to win his preliminary.

Jamaica’s Jevaughn Powell of Florida (45.85), D’Andre Anderson of Clemson (45.87), Reheem Hayles of Florida (45.99) made it through to the quarters in the men’s 400m.

The men’s 400m hurdles saw Bajan Tennessee senior Rasheeme Griffith (50.40) and Jamaican South Florida sophomore Devontie Archer (51.13) make progress.

The 2024 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships is set for June 5-8 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Arkansas junior Ackera Nugent produced a meet record 11.13 to win the Women’s 100m at the 2023 John McDonnell Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Friday.

Nugent, who set a collegiate record 7.72 on her way to claiming the NCAA Indoor 60m hurdles title in March, won ahead of the USA’s Jayda Baylark (11.24) and her Arkansas teammate Ariane Linton (11.31).

Another Jamaican Arkansas junior, Phillip Lemonious, took first place in the Men’s 110m hurdles in 13.77 ahead of teammates Matthew Lewis-Banks (13.90) and Brevin Sims (14.05).

Bahamian Gabrielle Gibson ran 13.07 to win the Women’s 100m hurdles ahead of Missouri Southern’s Kiara Smith (13.22) and Ashley Wallace of Kansas, who also did 13.81 in third. All three times were personal bests.

The men’s 400m was also filled with personal bests with Harding’s Dakari Bush taking the win in 46.00 over Arkansas’s Jeremy Farr (46.45) and Kansas’ Grant Lockwood (46.63).

Jamaican Arkansas sophomore Nickisha Pryce ran a personal best and meet record 51.47 to win the Women’s equivalent over teammate’s Paris Peoples (52.19) and Aaliyah pratt (53.36).

Jamaican freshman Devontie Archer added to Arkansas’ dominant day with a personal best 51.50 for victory in the Men’s 400m hurdles over Kansas’ Jameir Colbert (52.34) and Missouri’s Zachary Charles (53.28).

St. Vincent & the Grenadines’ Shafiqua Maloney took the title in the Women’s 800m in a meet record and season’s best 2:03.20 ahead of the USA’s Honour Finley (2:03.62) and Arkansas’s Lainey Quandt (2:05.58).

In the field, Arkansas sophomore Ralford Mullings threw a meet record 60.71m to win the Men’s discus ahead of the Kansas pair of Dimitrios Pavlidis (57.93m) and Patrick Larrison (55.87m).

The Men’s shot put saw Arkansas senior Roje Stona produce a meet record and personal best 20.08m for victory ahead of Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell (19.98m) and Arkansas’s Jordan West (18.99m).

Jamaica had a medal-filled final day of the 2021 World Under20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday capped by a gold-medal run in world-record time by the Women 4x100m team. Jamaica won seven medals on the final day and 11 medals overall that included two gold medals.

The team of Serena Cole, Tia Clayton, Kerrica Hill and Tina Clayton, clocked a world-record 42.94 to win by about 10m over a fast-finishing Namibian team that ran 43.76 for the silver medal. Interestingly, Namibia’s anchor Christine Mboma clocked an astonishing 9.86s on the anchor leg.

Nigeria ran a season-best 43.90 for the bronze medal.

Jamaica’s winning time broke the previous world record of 43.27 set by Germany in 2017. The time also erased the championship record of 43.40 set by Sherone Simpson, Kerron Stewart, Aneisha McLaughlin and Simone Facey when the championships were held in Kingston in 2002.

It was Jamaica’s third gold medal of the championships following those won by Tina Clayton in the 100m and Ackera Nugent in the 100m hurdles.

Earlier, Jaydon Hibbert jumped a personal best 16.05m to win the silver medal in the triple jump competition won by Sweden’s Gabriel Wallmark with a mark of 16.43m, a Swedish national U20 record.

Frenchman Simon Gore jumped a personal best 15.85m for the bronze medal.

Jamaica also won a silver medal in the discus in the form of Ralford Mullings who threw a personal best 66.68m to finish behind the now two-time champion Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania who won with a new championship record of 69.81m.

Raman Khartanovich threw a personal best 62.19m for the bronze medal.

Devontie Archer was an unexpected medalist in the 400m hurdles after he finished fourth in a new personal best of 49.78. However, Sweden’s Oskar Edlund, who crossed the finish line first was disqualified which meant that Archer was promoted to third and a medal.

Neutral athlete Denis Novoseletsen won the silver after he too ran a personal best of 49.62 with the gold going to Turkey’s Berke Akcam whose winning time of 49.38 was a national U20 record.

Jamaica mined three additional silver medals in the relays as the 4x100m team of Alexavier Monfries, Bryan Levell, Andrew Gillips and Sandrey Davison clocked an area record 38.61 behind South Africa World U20 record of 38.51.

Poland was third in 38.90, which is a new area record as well.

The final two medals came in the 4x400m relays in which the teams delivered strong performances. The girls ran 3:36.57 to claim silver behind Nigeria’s winning time of 3:31.46. Italy was the other team on the podium clocking 3:37.18.

The boys clocked 3:05.76 in a valiant effort to finish second to Botswana, who took the gold medal in 3:05.22. Kenya clocked 3:05.94 for the bronze medal.

Overall, Jamaica finished fifth on the medal table with three gold, six silver and two bronze medals at the championships.