Five Jamaican star athletes rewarded for outstanding performances in US
Five Jamaican student-athletes were this week rewarded for outstanding performances in American college track and field meets last weekend led by throwers Marie Forbes of Cloud County Community College and Clemson University’s Roje Stona.
Additionally, Charokee Young of Texas A&M University (TAMU), Abigail Schaaffe of the University of Minnesota and Kobejordan Rhooms of Morgan State University were also highlighted.
The previous week intermediate hurdler Leonardo Ledgister of Texas A&mcorpus Christi and shot putter Kyle Mitchell of Liberty University won conference honours.
Forbes, the former Vere Technical thrower who will attend Clemson next year, was named the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) women’s Field Athlete of the Week after she won two and was third in three events she participated in at the Emporia State University Midwest Classic.
She won the discus with a throw of 45.26m, the shot put with 13.40m and was third in the hammer throw with a mark of 48.25m.
Stona, the former St Jago thrower, won the men’s discus throw at the Oliver Jackson Twilight Invitational with a mark of 58.47m, his third win of the season.
His mark was the second-best among all National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) throwers last weekend and was short of his season-best 60.87m, fourth-best overall this season.
Young, the former Hydel High star who has been having an outstanding season in College Station, Texas, was the South-eastern Conference’s (SEC) Women’s Newcomer of the Week for the second time after she won the 400m at LSU’S Alumni Gold meet with an outdoor personal best time of 51.49 seconds.
Her time is number three in the nation and tops in the
SEC and she was also part of the women’s 4x400m relay that won in 3:27.16 minutes, which is also ranked third in the country.
Schaaffe, who is also having an outstanding first year at the University of Minnesota, won the 400m hurdles in a personal best 58.63 seconds at the Fighting Illini Big 10 Relays and anchored Minnesota’s winning 4x400 relay.
The former St Mary High runner is ranked number one in the Big 10 in the 400m hurdles and was winning her first career Big 10 Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week award.
Rhooms, the former Cornwall College jumper who won the MEAC indoor triple jump last year, won the triple jump, his first individual victory of the outdoors season, at the North Carolina A&T Aggie Classic, leaping to a season-best 14.53m, the second-best mark in the conference.
A week ago, the former St Elizabeth Technical athlete who was a finalist at the 2018 World Under-20 Championships in Finland, won his first Southland Conference Men’s Track Athlete of the Week award.
He broke the Texas A&mcorpus Christi school record in the 400m hurdles, running 50.59 seconds, faster than the 51.13 seconds set in 2015 by compatriot Kemar Mowatt at the Southland Conference championships.
The time was Southland’s second-best performance in the event this season and he is ranked ninth in the NCAA West Region and 15th in the nation.
Mitchell, who has broken every shot put record at Liberty University, was the Atlantic Sun Conference’s Men’s Field Athlete of the Week after he threw 19.18m for third place at the Virginia Challenge, extending his own school record.
It was his third career Field Athlete of the Week honour, his new mark beating the old record of 18.88m and all three legal throws were better than the previous best.