In the men’s 4x100 heats, Shermund Allsop and Jamol James were on their schools’ qualifying teams. Allsop’s LSU was fourth fastest (39.51) while James paced Tennesse to fifth overall (39.66). Ade Alleyne-Forte (LSU) and Emanuel Mayers (Mississippi State) will make the trip to Des Monies after LSU topped the men’s 4X400m heats (3:02.20) with Mississippi State in third (3:04.61). Allsop failed to book a spot in the men’s 200m after he finished in 15th in the quarterfinals in a personal best time of 20.71. He improved on his previous best of 20.85. Robert Collingwood (South Mississippi) was 25th in the men’s shot put qualifiers with a throw of 17.52 (season’s best), missing out on a top 12 spot. Deon Lendore, Zwede Hewitt and Nyoka Giles were on their schools’ relay outfits which were among the qualifiers. Lendore anchored Texas A&M to third place in the men’s 4X400m heats in 3:04.30 with Hewitt’s Baylor in sixth (3:07.17. Lendore ran his leg under 45 seconds. Giles pushed Minnesota to seventh in the women’s 4X100m qualifiers in 44.43. In the women’s 4X400m event Minnesota was 19th in 3:41.88. Iowa’s Carisa Leacock was 31th in the 31th in the women’s triple jump qualifying round in 12.27. Only the top 12 advanced. Semoy Hackett was also in ripping form, zooming to a national women’s 200m mark of 22.55 at the NCAA East Regionals, in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday. She achieved the time in winning heat two in the quarterfinals. Hackett broke the old mark of 22.60 set by her Tobagonian colleague Kelly-Ann Baptiste set back in 2009. The mark is well under the Olympic A standard of 23.10 and also betters her previous best of 22.75 which she ran in captured the 2010 NCAA Division two half lap title. In the heats, Hackett clocked 23.05, also an Olympic A time. Kai Selvon finished sixth quickest in the quarters with a season’s best time of 23.01. She also dipped under the Olympic mark. Both returned to help their schools in the 4X100m. LSU was the fastest qualifier in 43.26, with Auburn in sixth (44.18) and Florida International, with T’Keyah Demoy on anchor, in 11th (45.05). The top 12 qualified for the 2012 NCAA Division 1 Championships in Des Moines, Iowa from June 6 to 9.He is now 24th on the World all time listing along with Padgett, Darvis Patton (USA) and Ngonidzashe Makusha of Zimbabwe. Keston Bledman continued his impressive 2012 season clocking a personal best of 9.89 seconds in the men’s 100m at the Adidas Golden South Classic in Orlando, Florida on Saturday. Bledman improved his previous pb of 9.93 which he ran in 2011. The 2005 World Youth bronze medallist sped to the sensational time in topping the preliminaries but opted out of the finals. Bledman took heat two, ahead of the Jamaican pair of Ramon Mc Kenzie (10.31) and Oshane Bailey (10.32). Another Jamaican Nickel Ashmeade was first to the line in the first heat in 10.01 ahead of USA’s Travis Padgett (10.11). In the finals Ashmeade sped to gold in 9.97. Bledman’s time improves his previous 2012 best of 10.06 and is the sixth quickest of the year behind world record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica (9.82), another Jamaican, World Champion Yohan Blake (9.84), American Justin Gatlin (9.87) and Asafa Powell of Jamaica (9.88).
-Clayton Clarke
Source:www.guardian.co.tt