The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SEVERAL NCAA Division I student athletes concluded their regular seasons with their respective track and field programmes and now look ahead to conference championships.

Kansas State Wildcats high jumper Kyle Alcine highlighted the series of standout performances over the weekend with a new personal record in his signature event.

Competing at the Ward Haylett Invitational on May 8, Alcine notched a new personal record of 2.15m/7-00.50 and secured a spot in second place behind Olympic medallist Erik Kynard (2.20m/7-02.50), who competed as a member of Jordan Brand.

“There were a number of PRs or near PRs, so it appears most are in good position entering next week,” director of track and field and cross country Cliff Rovelto said.

“Generally, we had good conditions, which is fortunate given some of the weather we have had in recent meets.”

The Wildcats will host the Big 12 Outdoor Championship at R.V. Christian Track and Field Complex in Manhattan, Kansas, May 14-16.

Alcine picked up a fourth place finish in the men’s high jump at the 2021 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships that was hosted in March at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Brianne Bethel and her University of Houston Cougars closed out the regular season at the Tom Tellez Invitational, hosted at the Carl Lewis Complex in Houston, Texas.

In the 200m, Bethel finished in third-place at 23.24 to round out the podium for the hosting Cougars. Teammate Cecilia Tamayo-Garza was second at 23.17 secs.

Houston will return to action next week when it begins the postseason at the 2021 American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships March 14-16 in Tampa, Florida, on the campus of USF.

Bethel, the red shirt junior has had a resurgent year, after her recovery from several injury setbacks in previous seasons. Most recently, she posted a pair of victories for the Cougars at the Houston Alumni Invitational last weekend. At the meet , she clocked the 11th fastest time in the NCAA this season in 52.98 secs to erase the meet record of 54.18 secs in the 400m. She came back and posted the 14th fastest NCAA time of 23.18 secs to also set a new meet record in the 200m.

Serena Brown and her University of Iowa team competed at the Wisconsin Big Ten Invite on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin.

Brown finished second in discus throw with her mark of 57.25m

Next up for the Hawkeyes will head to Champaign, Illinois to compete at the Big Ten Championships next weekend on May 14th-16th.

Brown, the national record holder in the event following surgery to repair her rotator cuff prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hawkeyes coach Eric Werskey said Brown improved tremendously during the aforementioned time period.

“From January until March 2020, she had made great progress. She was in really great shape to throw really far just before the whole world shut down due to COVID-19,” he said in January “Her training marks resembled those of some high quality performances in the 58 to 59 metre range up until March when everything shut down with heavy weights. That was a good indicator for us that in peak form, she would have thrown around 62-63 metres.”

Inclement weather at the Arkansas Twilight Meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, meant Wells was the only member of the Oral Roberts team to compete before the event was halted.

Wells finished fifth in the prelims of the 100m hurdles (13.34 secs), sixth in the prelims of the 100m (11.74 secs) and advanced to both finals before wind and rain brought an end to the meet.

The Golden Eagles will now prepare for the 2021 Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Championships presented by the U.S Air Force Special Warfare May 13-15 in Vermillion, South Dakota.

In the PAC-12, Charisma Taylor was honoured by her Washington State Cougars as one of the top seniors in her graduating class. The award was given to student athletes that “represent the highest standards in specific aspects of the college experience, including academics, athletics, campus involvement, community service, and visual and performing arts.”

According to WSU: “Taylor has been an All-American and school record holder during her time on the Cougar track and field team. She holds indoor and outdoor school records in the triple jump, as well as the indoor record in the 60m Hurdles. At the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championship, she garnered First-Team All-America honors in the triple jump, setting the Bahamian national record in the process. Taylor also captured the 2020 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation triple jump title and was an MPSF All-Academic selection and garnered 2020 NCAA Indoor All-America honors for the triple jump. A hospitality business management major, Taylor is a board member and team representative on the Student‐Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and also holds a leadership role in WSU’s Black Student‐Athlete Association (BSAA).”