Wilson stars in 400m hurdles on final day »

Wilson stars in 400m hurdles on final day

TOLUCA, Mexico (CMC):

Nickeisha Wilson ran a championships record in the 400-metre hurdles and then ran the anchor leg on Jamaica's recording-breaking mile relay on the final day at the North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Under-23 Championships Sunday night. Adding another gold medal to the tally was the men's mile relay team, as Jamaica ended the championships with five gold medals.

Encouraged by the first place finishes of Schillonie Calvert (100) and Bobby-Gaye Wilkins (400) on the first two days, Wilson returned a championships record of 55.78 seconds to win the women's 400m hurdles over arch rival Nicole Leach of USA. Leach, who featured in some close finishes with Wilson at the collegiate level in last two seasons, was a distant second in 57.05, with Dominican Republic's Yolanda Osana following her for the bronze in 58.74. Wilson and Wilkins grabbed their second gold medals at the championships when they joined Christine Day and 400-metre silver medal winner Anastasia Le-Roy to win the women's 4x400m relay.

The Jamaicans crossed the line first in a championship record of three minutes 27.46 seconds to push the highly fancied Americans back into second place in of 3:28.25, with Canada further back in third, at 3:35.26. Tarik Edwards then see off the efforts of Ramon Frias to anchor Jamaica to victory in the men's race over the Dominican Republic. The Jamaican foursome - comprising Riker Hylton, Teo Bennett and Michael Mason - won the event in 3:05.61. Dominican Republic, with Kelvin Herrera and Frias running the first and final legs, took the silver in 3:05.80. Mexico ran 3:13.83 for third.

In the meantime, on a day when the wind affected competition for the most part, 100m champion Calvert had to settle for silver behind American Leslie Cole in the women's 200m. Pushed back by a headwind of -1.3 metres per second, Calvert stopped the clock at 23.33 seconds to chase Cole, who won in a solid 22.92 seconds. Mariela Sanchez, of Dominican Republic, made up for her 100-metre disappointment by capturing the bronze in 23.50.

Barbadians Shakera Reece (24.07) and Liann Kellman (24.66) were fifth and sixth, respectively. Also on the track, Dominican Republic Tayron Reyes won silver in the men's 800 metres with 1:50.31, while Jamaica's Andre Drummond ended fourth, at 1:50.67.

In field event action, former CARIFTA Games stars St Lucian Darwin Edwards (2.23 metres) and Jamal Wilson (2.23m) won silver and bronze medals in the men's high jump with personal bests. Also on the final day, Jamaica's Raymond Brown secured bronze in the men's shot with 16.95m, Bianca Stuart, of Bahamas, landed at 6.37m for bronze in the women's long jump, while Cayman Islands' Carl Morgan recorded a mark of 15.76m for third in men's triple jump. On Saturday, Jamaica's Tammilee Kerr just missed winning a medal in the heptathlon, after finishing fourth with total of 5,394 points.

Jamaica were the best placed CARICOM country on the medal table, finishing with five gold, three silver, and three bronze medals.

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