Source: www.trinidadexpress.com
Story by: Kwame Laurence
Zwede Hewitt seized silver at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Track and Field Championships, in Texas, USA, late on Saturday. The Trinidad and Tobago athlete ran an impressive second leg for Baylor University, setting the stage for victory in section two and second spot overall in the men's 4x400 metres relay.
Hewitt teamed up with Americans Whitney Prevost, Drew Seale and Marcus Boyd for a three minutes, 05.42 seconds clocking. The 21-year-old T&T quarter-miler produced a 46.18 seconds split to set up the medal-winning mile relay performance. Texas A&M University struck gold in 3:04.24, while bronze was bagged by University of Arkansas (3:06.79).
Another T&T athlete, Jovon Toppin ran the lead-off leg for University of Florida. Florida finished fourth in section three and 10th overall in 3:15.77, but had the satisfaction of capturing the men's team title at the American collegiate championships.
Florida accumulated 52 points at the two-day meet, 12 more than second-placed Texas A&M (40). Brigham Young University copped third spot with 34 points, while Kyron Blaise's Louisiana State University (LSU) finished fourth with 31. Baylor earned 13 points at the meet to finish joint 16th with Iona College.
Blaise, who was 12th in Friday's men's long jump with a 7.49 metres leap, finished ninth in Saturday's triple jump. The T&T athlete's best effort in the triple jump was 16.10m. Will Claye and Christian Taylor—students at University of Florida-- finished first and second, respectively, jumping 17.32m and 16.99m. Claye's jump is a new meet record. Jamaican Julian Reid (University of Texas) finished third with a 16.71m effort.
University of Oregon scored 67 points to emerge as women's team champions, beating University of Texas (38) and Semoy Hackett's LSU (37) into second and third, respectively.
Hackett finished sixth in Friday's 200m final in 23.21 seconds and eighth in Saturday's 60m championship race in 7.29. The T&T sprinter had clocked a personal best 7.22 in the qualifying round.
Lakya Brookins (University of South Carolina) grabbed 60m gold in a sizzling 7.09 seconds. The other medals were claimed by her fellow Americans, Jessica Young (Texas Christian University) and Kenyanna Wilson (LSU). Young clocked 7.17 and Wilson 7.18.
The 7.09 run produced by Brookins equalled the collegiate record, set ten years ago by American Angela Williams, and broke Williams' 7.13 meet record, established at the 2002 Championships.
Tonya Nero's Wichita State University earned one point at the NCAA meet to finish joint 57th—with six other schools--in the women's team competition. On Friday, the T&T runner was 13th in the women's 5,000m in 16 minutes, 26.42 seconds.