The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

NCAA Track and Field moved into its conference championships across several divisions and Bahamian student athletes produced medal winning performances en route to qualifying for the upcoming NCAA National Championships.

NCAA Division I SEC Championships

LaQuarn Nairn produced one of the top performances of the weekend with a pair of bronze medals for his Arkansas Razorbacks at the SEC Outdoor Championships at EB Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas.

Nairn’s performance helped the No. 13 Razorbacks win their 20th SEC Outdoor championship and to secure a 16th SEC triple crown in the process.

The Razorbacks’ senior began the three-day competition with a career best performance in the long jump with a leap of 8.04m (26’ 4.50”) to finish third in the field on Friday night.

Nairn added another bronze medal in the triple jump Saturday night. Nairn, competing in the first flight, put up a leading mark of 16.40m (53’ 9.75”w) that was aided by a 3.8 wind. It was only surpassed by two jumpers among the second flight. “I’m just really proud of this team,” said Arkansas men’s head coach Chris Bucknam. “We said coming into this championship it’s a three-day meet and not a one-day meet. There’s a big difference. We usually gain steam and our momentum as we go through each day.

“We kept plugging along and came out with a big win for the programme, the state of Arkansas, and the University of Arkansas. I’m so proud of these guys.”

Also at the SEC Championships, Doneisha Anderson was a member of the Florida Gators’ silver medal winning 4x400m relay team. Anderson teamed with Taylor Manson, Sterling Lester and Talitha Diggs, to conclude the weekend for the Gators on a high note, with a time of 3:28.33 seconds to earn the silver medal. Anderson also finished 16th in the prelims of the 400m in 53.54 secs.

Conference-USA

Shakeem Smith continues to rewrite the record books for the University of Texas-El Paso Miners at the C-USA Championships in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The decorated sprint hurdler won a pair of gold medals and set two new personal bests in both the 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

In the 110mh, Smith ran 13.73 secs to take first place and in the 400mh, his time of 49.82 secs broke a 21-year old meet record

Also at the C-USA Championships, Rhema Otabor continued her record setting freshman campaign for the FIU Panthers. She took first in the javelin with a mark of 51.37m. Otabor has recorded first place finishes in five of the six meets she’s competed in this season.

Big Ten Championships

An experienced field of Bahamians at the Big Ten Championships in Champaign, Illinois.

Tamar Greene is the Big Ten triple jump champion for the second consecutive year and successfully defended his title with a winning jump of 16.11m.

In the 100m, Samson Colebrooke finished second in10.30 secs and ran the fifth fastest time in programme history. Colebrooke was also a member of the 4x100m team that won gold and posted the fourth fastest time in Purdue history. The Boilermakers successfully defended their title with a time of 39.30 secs.

In the discus, Serena Brown of the Iowa Hawkeyes won the silver with her throw of 56.62m.

Summit League Championships

In the Summit League, Sasha Wells highlighted a series of standout performances from Bahamian competitors at the Lillibridge Track Complex in Vermillion, South Dakota.

Wells led the Bahamian contingent for the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, scored a total of 28.5 points and was named Summit League Track Championships MVP.

Gabrielle Gibson’s busy meet also produced 21.5 points for the ORU women.

Wells won a trio of gold medals in the 100m, 100m hurdles, anchored the 4x100m relay team and added bronze in the 200m.

Her time of 13.30 secs set a new Summit League meet and facility record. She led a near Bahamian sweep on the medal podium with Gibson second in 13.45 secs and Indea Cartwright fourth in 13.70 secs.

In the 100m, Wells finished first in 11.68 secs while Gibson won bronze in 11.83 secs. Wells’ bronze medal run in the 200m came in a time of 24.23 secs. Gibson finished fourth in 24.24 secs and Kayvon Stubbs was eighth in 25.12 secs.

Wells and Gibson teammed with Judith Bediako and Victoria Neville to lead the team to a gold medal in the 4x100m in 45.62 secs.

Cartwright reached the medal podium with a silver medal run in the 400m hurdles in a time of 1:01.36 secs.

Amelia Peterson continued her standout season for the Western Illinois Leathernecks and added an outdoor silver medal to follow the silver she won earlier this year on the indoor circuit.

Just hours after she became an official Leatherneck graduate, Peterson leapt to a second place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 12.38 meters (40’ 07.50”) on Saturday afternoon.

Wells may have been one of the top performers of the meet, but Daejha Moss and h to er North Dakota State Bison women’s team maintained its perfect conference meet record, winning its 13th consecutive Summit League outdoor team championship on Saturday. The NDSU women finished with 259.50 points.

Moss earned three top-four finishes at the meet.

She placed second in the high jump and tied her outdoor-best in the event with her mark of 1.75m (5’ 8.75”). She also took fourth place in the triple jump and recorded a personal best with her mark of 12.13m (39’ 9.75” to rank 10th all-time at NDSU. She was also fourth in the long jump with another new personal best of 5.95m (19’ 6.25”).

American Athletic Conference

Brianne Bethel ran to a gold medal and a new personal best time of 51.77 secs in the 400m at the AAC Championships in Tampa, Florida on the campus of USF.

Her time ranks third in Cougar history.

Bethel, the red shirt junior continued her resurgent year, after her recovery from several injury setbacks in previous seasons.

Big 12

Kyle Alcine of the Kansas State Wildcats won bronze in the high jump with a leap of 2.11m. The Wildcats hosted the meet at R.V. Christian Track and Field Complex in Manhattan, Kansas.

Alcine improved on a fourth place finish in the at the 2021 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships in March.

ASun Conference

Branson Rolle and his Liberty Flames swept the men’s and women’s team titles.

Rolle finished third in the javelin with his throw of 57.58m

NCAA Division II NSIC

Shyrone Kemp continues to lead the performance in the field for the Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons. The Dragon men finished fourth at the NSIC Championships.

Kemp won the triple jump with a mark of 49’ 3.75”, which he accomplished on his fourth attempt. He has three NSIC titles in his Dragon career. He also finished fourth in the high jump at 6’ 4.75” and was fifth in the long jump at 22’ 11.75”. He was also a member of the 4x100m that finished fourth in 41.96 secs in a season’s best time.

Freshman Robynn Curry was seventh in the 400m in 56.55 secs.

Also at the NSIC, Denisha Cartwright and her Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks women’s team finished second with a team score of 157 points.

Cartwright earned the conference title in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.71 secs and became the ninth member of the Maverick program to win the conference title. She also finished second in the 200m with a time of 23.98 secs and third in the 100m in 11.63 secs. In the 4x100m her team won the conference title and school record time of 45.24 secs. It ranks as the ninth fastest time in the nation and tenth fastest in Maverick history.