Mississippi State’s Jamaican Junior Navasky Anderson finished second in the Men’s 800m at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene on Friday and made history in the process.
The former St Jago man broke Seymour Newman’s 45-year-old national record of 1:45.21 with a 1:45.02 effort to finish second behind Texas Tech’s Moad Zahavi who ran 1:44.49 for victory. Texas A&M’s Brandon Miller finished just behind Anderson in third with 1:45.09.
Anderson also achieved the World Championship qualifying standard of 1:45.20 with his performance.
In an interview with Sportsmax.TV after achieving a then-personal best 1:45.89 last month, Anderson spoke about putting Jamaican 800m running on the map and, one day, breaking Newman’s national record which was set in 1977 in Helsinki.
“My job here is just now getting started,” he said.
“My goal is not only to be the best 800m runner from 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,” Anderson added.
The former Essex Community College man can now say he's achieved one of those goals.
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