The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field season moved into respective conference championships over the weekend and several Bahamian student-athletes highlighted competition with winning performances.

At the Big 10 Championships, Tamar Greene and Samson Colebrooke were two of the standout performers for the Purdue Boilermakers en route to a third-place finish for their men’s team.

Greene, the sophomore jumper, had arguably the most successful 10-minute stretch of any athlete at the meet. He took first place in the triple jump with a leap of 16.15m and ran the first leg of the winning 4x100m relay team.

Greene teamed up with Colebrooke, Justin Becker and Waseem Williams to take first place in 39.39 seconds. It marked the first time Purdue won the event in 16 years, set a new facility record and tied a season-best and the No. 2 time in programme history.

Individually, Colebrooke, the junior sprinter in his first year with the programme, finished fourth in the 100m in 10.29 and fourth in the 200m.

Purdue scored 96 points, the most since 2003.

Also at the Big 10 Championships, Jyles Etienne secured a third-place finish for the Indiana Hoosiers.

The sophomore high jumper cleared 2.20 metres in his signature event to earn a spot on the podium.

Another pair of Bahamians competed for their respective universities at the SEC Championships.

LaQuan Nairn set a new personal best and finished fifth in the triple jump for the Arkansas Razorbacks with his jump of 15.68m.

The No. 20 Arkansas men’s team finished third-place overall. Nairn posted a fifth-place finish in qualification. He made the final of the event with a leap of 15.25m (50-0.5) on his third attempt, putting him in eighth. After moving down to ninth before the final round of jumps, Nairn landed in the pit at 15.68m with his final mark to take fifth and pick up four points for the team.

Also at the SEC Championships, Doniesha Anderson helped the Florida Gators women’s team to a third-place finish.

The freshman quartermiler reached the finals of the 400m and was a member of the bronze-medal winning 4x400m team.

Anderson set her personal best for the second time in as many rounds with a 52.15 run in the final to finish sixth. She surpassed her previous personal best of 52.55, run in the prelims. Her 4x400m relay team won bronze in 3:30.40.

Florida finished fifth with 69 points, the Gators’ seventh consecutive top-three finish at SEC Outdoor Championships.

At the Conference-USA Championships, Shakeem Smith competed for the University of Texas El-Paso. Smith won the 400m hurdles in 50.86 and was sixth in the 110m hurdles in 14.40.

Denzel Pratt and Branson Rolle produced standout performances for the Liberty Flames in their Atlantic-Sun Conference Outdoor Championships debut.

Pratt claimed his third consecutive conference javelin title with a throw of 63.02 while Rolle was second at 54.18m. Rolle also won bronze in the high jump with a clearance of 2.03m, a new personal best.

After being sidelined for two months due to injury, Rolle made a successful 2019 outdoor season debut.

The Bahamian contingent at Oral Roberts University continues to deliver for the Eagles and had several of the programme’s top performances at the Summit League Championship.

Sasha Wells was awarded the track MVP while Gabrielle Gibson was named newcomer of the meet.

Wells shattered the meet record with a time of 13.44 in the 100 metre hurdles, tying her personal best which she ran at the 2018 CARIFTA Games.

Individually, Wells also took first place in the 100m (11.83), and second in the 200m (24.48).

Gibson accounted for 15 points at the meet to earn Newcomer of the Championship honours. She finished second in the 100m hurdles (14.09) and fourth in the 200m (24.53).

Kayvon Stubbs took first place in the 200m in 23.99 and was second in the 100m in 11.85.

The Bahamian trio also lead Oral Roberts to a first place in the 4x100m in 46.52. Stubbs and Gibson were also members of the first place 4x400m team (3:45.75).

Bradley Dormeus finished second in the 400m in 47.67 and was eighth in the 200m in 24.25. He was also a member of the first place 4x400m team that won gold in 3:12.73.

Both women’s and men’s teams finished fourth with 103 and 85 points respectively.

Tiffany Hanna and the Wagner Seahawks competed at the 2019 ECAC/IC4A Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Hanna, who earned NEC Most Outstanding Field Event Performer (throws) at last weekend’s NEC Outdoor Track & Field Championship, finished ninth overall in the shot put, with her best throw clearing 38.80m.

At the NECs a week ago, Hanna’s best finish came in the discus event, earning a gold medal with a mark of 42.42m . Hanna went on to place fourth in the shot put, with a throw of 12.00m, and also took fourth in the hammer throw with her best mark reaching 47.08m.