Jamaican NCAA resurgence begins today
Published:Wednesday | June 8, 2022 | 12:10 AMRaymond Graham/Gleaner Writer
SIX JAMAICANS, led by former Kingston College standout long jumper, Wayne Pinnock, will be in action on today’s opening day of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division One Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Pinnock, competing for the University of Tennessee, after qualifying from the semi-final round some two weeks ago in the long jump with 7.93 metres, will be hoping to rediscover his good form shown at the War Eagle Invitational meet in April where he did 8.06 metres to win the event. That event will start at 8 p.m. and Pinnock will start in flight one.
Two other Jamaicans will compete in flight two as Pinnock’s teammate, Carey McLeod, who advanced from the semi-final final round with 7.63 and former Jamaica College standout, Safia Wills of Purdue University, who advanced with 7.53 will all be hoping for top-three finishes today.
Four other Jamaicans will be involved in semi-final action on the track with former Calabar High ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championship winning team captain, Lafranz Campbell, down to compete in the men’s 110-metre hurdles at 7:32 p.m.
Competing in his final competition for Clemson University, Campbell will run out of lane eight in Heat Three of the event and will be hoping to improve big time on his time of 13.63 seconds to advance to Friday’s final.
Former Edwin Allen and Kingston College quarter-miler, Jevaughn Powell, who is now conditioned by outstanding quarter-miler for Jamaica, Davion Clarke, at the University of Texas, El Paso (Utep), will be in action in the men’s 400-metre semi-finals at 8 p.m.
With a season’s best of 44.87 seconds, Powell has the third-best time in the event and will run out of lane six in Heat One. Here he will go up against the top seed, Randolph Ross of North Carolina A&T University, who has a best time of 44.23 seconds and will run out of lane three. Ross represented the United States at last year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.
The two other Jamaicans in action today are Navasky Anderson in the 800 metres and Kenroy Williams in the 400-metre hurdles. Anderson will take the track at 8:14 p.m. for Mississippi State University and will run out of lane six after the former St Jago High athlete qualified with 1:47.83 seconds.
Williams, formerly of Donald Quarrie High School and who now represents the University of Kentucky, will be the final Jamaican in action. At 8:30 p.m., he will compete in Heat Two of the men’s 400-metre hurdles, an event for which he qualified with a time of 50.96 seconds.
Seven other Jamaicans will bow into action in individual events on Friday’s final day of competion for the men, while the women will be in action tomorrow and again on Saturday.