The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown and Donald Thomas were taking care of business at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, a number of athletes were making their presence felt for their respective colleges at the NCAA Regional Championships.

Competing at what is known as ‘Track Town USA,’ the Prefontaine Classic was one of 14 meets on the IAAF Golden League series. It was the third meet in the series and the first to be held in the USA.

In a stacked field of international stars, Brown ran a season’s best of 44.54 seconds for third place and the sixth fastest time this year. He improved on his previous best time of 44.76 that he ran in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 24.

Brown, 36, trailed Grenada’s world and Olympic champion Kirani James, who took the tape in a new world-leading time of 43.95. James, who was the first man to dip under 44 seconds this year, had the previous best times of 44.22 and 44.31. American LaShawn Merritt came in second in 44.51, which is now the fifth fastest time in the world.

Also at the meet, Thomas cleared 2.28 metres or 7-feet, 5 3/4-inches for seventh place in the high jump. He matched the same height as Daniil Tsyplakov of Russia and Andriy Protsenko of Ukraine, but was beaten out on fewer knockdowns.

Winning the event was Qatar’s Olympic bronze medallist and World Championship silver medallist Mutaz Barshim with 2.41m (7-103/4), surpassing his previous world’s best of 2.38m (7-9 3/4). Guowei Zhang of China was second with 2.38m (7-9 3/4) and American Erik Kynard was third with 2.35m (7-8 1/2). Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov was fourth with 2.32m (7-7 1/4).

“It was a really good meet. Everything was in place to jump high,” Thomas told The Tribune. “I had some really good jumps, but as the bar went up, I started to press in my curve. It’s the first time I jumped since May 2, so my timing was off a little.

“At these big meets there is little room for error because the bar is going up at such a rapid rate and the intervals are increasing at an inch a time. No excuses, I know what I did wrong and on to the next meet in Oslo. Some of the guys jumped really well, so hats off to them.”

Thomas said it was also good for him to catch up with Brown, the only other Bahamian at the meet. “We had dinner and went to the track together,” he said. “It’s just a hand full of Bahamians who appear at the Diamond League, so it was nice to have him there.”

While Brown and Thomas were in Eugene, the other athletes were at the NCAA Regionals in their bid to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, scheduled for June 10-13 in Eugene.

NCAA East Regional

At the Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, Devynne Charlton, representing Purdue University, qualified individually in the 100m hurdles and finished second in her heat with a time of 13.21 seconds into a wind of 0.2 metres per second. Her time was the 10th fastest of the quarter-finals.

Charlton also teamed up with Carmeisha Cox as the Boilermakers women’s 4x100m relay team started the day for Purdue with their first qualifying mark. Joined by Savannah Carson and Symone Thomas, the team broke the school record with a time of 43.97 seconds. The time was the second-fastest of the heat, earning the group a spot in the national championships. The time broke the previous school record, set earlier this season, by 0.65 of a second.

Cox was also a member of the 4 x 400m team that advanced by breaking Purdue’s school record by 1.80 seconds.

Teray Smith, a sophomore at Auburn University, had the 10th fastest time of 20.60 to qualify for the men’s 200m. Smith was also a part of Auburn’s 4x100m relay team that was ninth in qualifying for Eugene as well.

NCAA West Regional

At the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Texas A&M’s junior Latario Collie-Minns had the best qualifying mark of 16.55m (54-3 3/4) in the men’s triple jump to book his ticket to Eugene.

He will be joined by his Texas A&M senior team-mate Shavez Hart, who ran the fourth fastest qualifying time in the 200m in 20.63 and the 10th best time of 10.15 in the 100m. Hart will also run on their 4x100m relay team that had the second fastest qualifying time of 39.05.

And Tynia Gaither anchored the University of South Carolina women’s 4x100m relay team to fifth in 44.50 to advance. Gaither, a junior, also qualified in the 100m with the eighth best time of 11.32.