Abigail Schaaffe continues assault on 600m record
FORMER St Mary High School runner Abigail Schaaffe has continued her assault on the indoors 600m record books at the University of Minnesota after she lowered her personal best for the third time this season, winning at the Husker Quad meet at the University of Nebraska on Saturday.
Schaaffe clocked one minute 29.32 seconds to move up to fifth on the University of Minnesota all-time list, beating her teammate Val Larson who also had a personal best 1:29.66 minutes.
Schaaffe beat the 1:30.99 minutes she had run in mid-january at a meet in Iowa.
She was the second Jamaican at the University of Minnesota to win on Saturday as grad student Devia Brown won the shot put with a best mark of 16.14m, her best so far this season.
Meanwhile, former Hydel High School runner Charokee Young, who was beaten over 400m for the first time this season by her sensational Texas A&M teammate Athing Mum, has moved up into the top five in the programme’s all-time list to fifth-best, with her personal best 51.93 seconds done at the Charlie Thomas Invitational at Gilliam indoor stadium.
It was also fourth-best in the world so far this year and second in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rankings behind Mum, who broke the World Under-20 400m record with her fantastic 50.52 seconds time, erasing Sanya Richards-ross’s 50.82 — pending USATF ratification — and setting a school record by beating Jessica Beard’s 10year-old school record of 50.79 seconds. It was the fourth-best all-time in American and collegiate history, according to the Texas A&M website.
Sprint hurdlers Lafranz Campbell and Trishauna Hemmings had podium finishes for Clemson at the South Carolina Invitational. Campbell placed second in the final with 7.88 seconds after qualifying with 8.00 seconds, while Hemmings was third in her final with 8:24 seconds.
Former Mount Alvernia High School jumper Roschell Clayton made her indoors debut for Villanova University, placing second in the high jump with 1.72m at a dual meet with U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York.
Gabrielle Bailey of Kent State and formerly of Vere Technical High School placed third in the shot put at a meet held at Akron, throwing 14.06m, while former Manchester High School runner Danielle Thompson was fourth in the 400m for South Dakota in 59.72 seconds at the Dakota Quad Classic at North Dakota State University.
At the Marshall Classic, Jamaicans Abigail Mullings and Peter Gay Mckenzie had podium finishes for West Virginia University. Mullings won the high jump with a clearance of 1.69m while Mckenzie was second in the long jump with 5.49m.
Romaine Beckford, formerly of Buff Bay High School, had an indoor best in the high jump when he won the event with 2.20m, a National Junior College lead, at the Angelo State University Indoor meet on Saturday.