media_artricles :: 2013

Waithe seventh in NCAA triple jump

Steve Waithe placed seventh in the men’s triple final at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, yesterday.

The Shippensburg student had a best leap of 15.14 metres in the third round to qualify for three additional jumps. The 2012 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Junior medallist fouled his opening jump before reaching 15.10 on his second effort to lie in sixth spot. He improved by .04 to record 15.14 in the third round but slipped to seventh place. The second year student fouled his fourth try and could only manage 14.87 on his fifth. He closed out his campaign with a foul jump. Johnny Carter (Academy of Arts) took the gold (15.87) ahead of DeJon Wilkinson (St Augustine) 15.82 and Meelis Siimson (Central Missouri) 15.46.

Reyare Thomas was due to contest the women’s 60m and 200m finals late yesterday. The Abilene Christian sprinter qualified for the 60m final after running eighth overall in the preliminaries, which were contested on Friday, with a time of 7.47 seconds. In the 200m heats also on Friday, the 2009 World Championships sprint relay finalist improved her personal time to 23.82 in finishing fourth overall. Jameel Walcott (St Augustine) bowed out the men’s 800m preliminaries Friday, finishing 15th overall (1:54.50).

In Division I Championships action set to end last night in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Deon Lendore was the fastest qualifier and the favourite for gold in the men’s 400m final. The Texas A&M second year student topped the preliminaries in 45.36, 0.11 seconds off his national record run and world leading time established in the South Eastern Conference (SEC) Champs two weeks ago at the same venue. Lendore was expected to contest the men’s 4x400m finals with Texas A&M, which has the fastest time in the NCAA and the World (3:04.18).

Another Texas A&M student, Wayne Davis 11 vied for a medal in the men’s 60m hurdles finals. The 2012 Olympic 110m hurdles semifinalist had the fifth fastest in the heats in 7.69, missing national record of 7.65 set at the SEC Champs. Davis was seventh in last year’s finals. Sparkle McKnight (Arkansas) also contested the women’s 400m final after finishing eighth best in the preliminaries on Friday with 52.85, 0.08 seconds short of her national indoor mark of 52.77 run at the SEC Champs.

McKnight and Jeneil Bellille (Texas A&M) were also scheduled to clash in the women’s 4x400m finals running as part of their schools’ line-ups. Hilenn James (Georgia) contested the women’s shot put final which also took place late yesterday. Geronne Black (Portland State) was 15th in the women’s 60m heats in 7.40.

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