The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FROM one National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) triple jumper to the next, Purdue University’s head track and field coach Norbert Elliott said he can’t wait to see what his protégé Tamar Greene will do this weekend at the National Indoor Championships.

Greene, a native of Mangrove Cay, Andros, now in his senior year at Purdue, will be among four other Boilermakers who will compete in the Indoor Nationals at the Randal Tyson Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“Tamar is well experienced at the big stage, having competed on many CARIFTA Games and also competing in Mexico at the Jr CAC where he won a medal,” Elliott said.

“Tamar is in great shape and he’s ready to perform well. So I just expect a really good mark from him. We will let the results kind of take care of itself, but I expect a good performance from Tamar.”

Greene will compete in the triple jump on Saturday where he is seeded No.10. He earned a qualifying jump of 16.14 metres, the third-best triple jump mark in Purdue’s history as he won a bronze medal at the Big Ten Championships on February 26.

“He knows how to perform on the big stage,” Elliott said. “He’s one of our young up and coming triple jumpers. We’ve had great tradition of triple jumpers at the NCAA level, so he will do well.”

Elliott, now in his third season as the head coach at Purdue, had a storied career as a triple jumper and a former all-around athlete at St Augustine’s College.

The two-time Olympian (1988 and 1992) competed for the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where he was runner-up to Mike Conley in 1985 when he was ranked number one in the world.

Greene, 22, is currently ranked No.5 in Purdue’s history in the indoor triple jump with a leap of 15.95m, posted on February 22, 2020 and is No.5 outdoors with a jump of 16.17 metres on April 26, 2019.

“I just want to go to the Nationals and compete to the best of my abilities and make the finals and become an All-American,” Greene said. “This is my first time making it for indoors, so I’m excited.”

After coming home for Christmas, the athletes were called back in December to start training, but Greene wasn’t able to leave the Bahamas until July because of the COVID-19 restrictions.

That only allowed him a short time to prepare for the Big Ten Championships, but he managed to secure his berth for the NCAA Championships.

“I was very happy only getting to compete three times for the year and still made it to the biggest indoor meet for the year,” he said.

“So I was really happy.The Big 10 gave me a confidence booster because the first two meets I was really down. After Big 10, I was able to put my name out there as me and my coach (Elliott) were able to sit down and work out the things that were going wrong.”

The 22-year-old Greene left Andros in 2013 to attend TA Thompson Junior High.

After one year there, he secured a scholarship for grade nine in 2014 at Queen’s College where he went on to graduate in 2017.

Now after four years at Purdue, Greene is excited about fulfilling his dream of making it to the indoor nationals, despite the fact that he was focused every year.

The difference, this year, he said is that he and coach Elliott were able to improve on the technical aspect of the jump.

“From I came here at Purdue, I found out that indoors is one of the hardest meets to make it to because they only take the top 16,” he said.

“So every year, I would be like 19-22 and this is the first year that I am going in with the tenth best jump in the nation, so I just have to go out there and shine.”

Greene, the son of Ricardo Greene and Pamela Moxey from Mangrove Cay, is a major in aviation management. Thanks to COVID-19, he has the option of returning next year to compete again.

But for now, Greene said the focus is making a splash in the triple jump at the indoor nationals this weekend.

“I can’t wait to see what he will do,” Elliott said.

“He’s been doing very well this year, so I hope it will culminate with a great performance.”