Jamaicans shine on US collegiate circuit »

Jamaicans shine on US collegiate circuit

Kimberley Smith

Jamaicans were among the top performers at two outdoor collegiate track and field championships held at the weekend in the United States.

At the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships in Southern Illinois, former Edwin Allen High athlete Kimberley Smith took the sprint double.

Competing for Wayland Baptist University, Smith won the 100 metres in 11.68 seconds and the 200m in 24.18. In the 200m, another former Edwin Allen athlete Sherene Pinnock was fourth in 24.37. Now competing for Oklahoma Baptist University, Pinnock won the 400m hurdles in 59.50.

Important roles

Both athletes also played important roles in the relays for their respective teams. Wayland Baptist won the sprint relay in 46.21 seconds. Pinnock anchored her team to victory in the 4x400m in 3:42.11.

At the Division II championships in Walnut, California, former Holmwood Technical athlete Keva Wilkins captured the 400m for Abilene Christian University and in the process helped her team to win the female title, denying the Victor 'Poppy' Thomas-coached Lincoln University their sixth successive triumph. Wilkins won her event in 54.05 as Lincoln University's Monique Robinson, the former GC Foster athlete, was seventh in 55.03.

Former Camperdown hurdler Carla Thomas, representing Lincoln University, failed to defend her title in the 400m hurdles as she finished second in 59.42. She also ended seventh in the 100m hurdles in 14.21. Former Vere Technical athlete Indira Spence (13.71) and Carla Kay Mills (14.25), representing Adam State University, finished third and eighth, respectively.

Gold winners

Led by Spence and Mills, along with former Edwin Allen athlete Shirline Duncan, Adam State took gold in the 4x100m in 45.37. In the 4x400m Lincoln University with an all-Jamaican quartet (Robinson, Meisha Thompson, Thomas and Patricia Tingling) won the event in 3:39.70.

The best individual performance among the males came from Lincoln University's Kawayne Fisher. The former GC Foster College student, running in a plus 2.2 metres per second wind, took silver in the 100m in 10.26 as his teammate Kimour Bruce, formerly of Holmwood Tech-nical, took fifth in 10.36.

Camperdown High graduates Dwayne Bryden, Fisher and Bruce were members of Lincoln's successful 4x100m team which won in 39.65.

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