Distin breaks national indoor high jump record
NATIONAL HIGH jumper Lamara Distin hit top form over the weekend at the South Eastern Conference Conference (SEC) at the Randal Tyson Centre in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Distin, competing for A and M University, cleared 2.00 metres to improve her own national indoor record by three centimetres. It’s the third-best mark in the world this year.
Three other Jamaicans, Wayne Pinnock, Romaine Beckford, who were competing at home, and Luke Brown also picked up wins in the field events. Pinnock, a former Kingston College (KC) standout and current world leader indoors with 8.34 metres, captured the long jump event with 8.28m.
Beckford, a former Buff Bay High athlete, captured the men’s high jump after clearing the bar at 2.23 metres. Luke Brown, formerly of Calabar High, closed out the field events wins by capturing the triple jump with 16.59 metres for the University of Kentucky.
On the track, former St Jago High and Hydel High sprinter Briana Lyston picked up a win. Competing for Louisiana State University, Lyston romped to victory in the women’s 60 metres clocking a swift 7.08 seconds.
The meet also saw top-three finishes for Nickeisha Pryce, Nia Robinson, Tyrese Reid and JeVaughn Powell.
Pryce, the former Vere Technical 400m runner competing for the University of Arkansas, was second in her pet event in 50.83 seconds. Earlier, she had a fourthplace finish in the 200m, where she clocked 22.62 seconds. Her teammate, Robinson, a past student of Rusea’s High, was second in the women’s long jump with a distance of 6.44m.
JeVaughn Powell and Tyrese Reid were second in their respective events, while Roje Stona was third.
Competing for the University of Florida, Powell, a former Edwin Allen High and KC athlete, clocked 45.61 in the men’s 400m. The event was won in a world-record 44.49 by Canada’s Christopher Morales Williams.
Reid, a former Spot Valley High star now representing the Mississippi State University, clocked 1:47.55 in the 800m, while Stona, a former St Jago thrower, competing at home, had a heave of 19.94m in the men’s shot put.
At the Big 12 Indoor Conference in Lubbock, Texas, former Wolmer’s Boys’ 400m runner Shaemar Uter and former Excelsior High sprinter Demar Francis had top-three finishes.
Competing for Texas Technical University, Uter finished second in the men’s 400m in 45.68. St Lucia’s Michael Josephs, who represented KC at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’Athletics Championships, won the event in 45.46 for the University of Kansas.
Francis, competing for Baylor University, was third in the men’s 200 min 20.60.