Brianna Lyston, the standout LSU sophomore, demonstrated her exceptional talent at the SEC Outdoor Championships on Thursday by running a lifetime best of 22.31 seconds in the 200m, securing her spot in the finals scheduled for Saturday.

 Despite facing a challenging headwind of 1.0m/s, Lyston delivered a remarkable performance to win her heat and surpass her previous personal best of 22.53 set in Kingston two years ago. Her impressive run solidifies her status as a formidable competitor in collegiate track and field.

 Joining Lyston in the finals is Nickeisha Pryce, a senior from the University of Arkansas, who also secured her place with a strong performance, clocking a time of 22.75 seconds.

 In Saturday's final, Lyston will face a stacked field that includes Tennessee's Jacious Sears who ran 22.66 in her heat on Thursday as well as Razorback Amber Anning (22.66) as well as South Carolina's JaMeesia Ford (22.47) and McKenzie Long of Ole Miss (22.37).

 In addition to Lyston's outstanding achievement, Kimar Farquharson and Tyrese Reid showcased their talent in the 800m event, both advancing to the finals.

 Farquharson, representing Texas A&M, clocked an impressive time of 1:47.57, while Reid, representing the University of Mississippi, secured his spot with a time of 1:48.07.

A prayer before making their way into the stadium was the perfect way for the Jamaican quartet to start their bid in the women’s 4X400m relays and they will indeed challenge for a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

This, as they booked their spot in Sunday’s showpiece event, after finishing tops in their heat on Saturday.

Cherokee Young, running from lane eight, ran the lead leg for the Jamaicans handing off to Nickesha Pryce, who ran a well-paced leg to send Shiann Salmon on her way.

Salmon did well to maintain the gap for Stacey-Ann Williams, who only had to run steady and true to take the team home in a new world leading time 3:22.74.

They won ahead of Canada (3:23.29), with Netherlands (3:23.75) taking the third automatic qualifying spot.

Great Britain won the second heat in 3:23.33, ahead of the favourites United States, who were later disqualified via Technical Rule 24.7, as they passed the baton outside the takeover zone.

That meant Belgium (3:23.63) and Italy (3:23.86) got second and third respectively, while Poland (3:24.05) and Ireland (3:26.18) got the two fastest non-automatic qualifying spots.

The final will be the curtain-call event of the nine-day Championships at 2:47pm Jamaica time.

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