Athletics standouts Myles, Taylor win US awards
FORMER Jamaican high school track and field standouts Salieci Myles of William Carey University in the NAIA and Calisha Taylor of New Mexico Junior College were named national athletes of the week for their outstanding performances in last weekend’s indoor meets.
Myles, who ended her high school career at Rusea’s High after previously attending Edwin Allen High, was named the NAIA women’s track athlete of the week after she won the 60m hurdles event at the Commodore Classic at Vanderbilt University in an NAIA leading 8.38 seconds.
Myles also ran a personal best 7.59 over the 60m, bettering the 8.39 she ran in the preliminaries of the hurdles event.
It placed her “among the top-40 collegians this season on the All-college Descending Order List”, according to the US Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) website.
It was the first time an athlete from William Carey was named as Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the indoor season.
Taylor, the former Holmwood Technical athlete and reigning NJCAA 400m champion, was in outstanding form at the Texas Tech’s Corky Classic in Lubbock. She lowered her personal best in the 600 yards by more than two seconds after clocking 1:21.65 minutes, third best-ever on the all-time NJCAA indoor list.
She had set her previous best 1:23.88 on the same track last February and then split 54.25 seconds on the New Mexico JC’S 4×400 team which ran 3:42.39 minutes, making the New Mexico JC the fifth-fastest programme in NJCAA indoor history.