The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

VERSATILE Charisma Taylor, a transfer from Washington State, had a stellar Southeastern Conference Championship debut for the University of Tennessee Volunteers over the weekend at Texas A&M in Bryan-College Station, Texas.

On Saturday, Taylor soared to third place in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 45-feet, 1-inch or 13.74 metres. Less than an hour later, she was back on the track competing in the final of the women’s 60m hurdles where she placed second in 7.93 to lower her own school record.

Those two performances came a day after Taylor placed seventh in the long jump with a leap of 20-21/2 (6.16m). She also had the third fastest qualifying time of 8.02 in the preliminaries of the 60m hurdles that saw University of Florida transfer Sasha Wells, who previously competed for Oral Roberts, place 13th in 8.30.

One other Bahamian, Megan Moss, competed for the University of Kentucky.

“I felt really good about my performances,” said Taylor after her accomplishments. “The long jump was probably six minutes or so after the 60 metres hurdles on Friday. The prelims was good. I matched my PB and I felt pretty good about it. In the long jump, I felt I did pretty well considering that I didn’t have any time to prepare after the hurdles.

“The next day, I forgot about what happened and I just came in with a new mindset, just ready, hungry to do the triple jump and hurdles finals. The plan was just to do three jumps and pack it up and get ready for the hurdles final and that was what I did.”

Taylor, however, said her first jump wasn’t all that she anticipated, but it was a good start. She noted that her second jump was a little better, but she really connected on the third jump. She admitted that she was a little hungrier to continue in the competition, but she listened to her coaches and packed it up to get ready for the hurdles.

“I had about an hour to recover, get my legs flushed out and get ready for the hurdles,” she pointed out. “I was focusing on my race and my lane and that was what I did. I felt I had a really good reaction to the gun and I got a close season and a huge PB, so I was really proud of that.

“The competition was great. This was my first time in the SEC. It was nothing short of amazing,” she stressed. “It was just great competition all around and I liked that.”

Taylor, a 22-year-old former Queen’s College star athlete, ended up collecting a total of 26 points for the Lady Vols, whose director of track and field/ cross country Beth Alford- Sullivan had nothing but praise for her achievement.

“Charisma has just rewritten our record books all season and continued her incredible run this weekend,” Alford-Sullivan said. “She scored 16 points for the Tennessee Lady Vols and performed extremely well today in a tough back-to-back. It was a lot of fun watching her compete and we are excited to see what she can do at NCAAs.”

With a week off to do some training, Taylor said she’s looking forward to the Nationals that will be staged in two weeks in Birmingham, Alabama.

They are scheduled to depart on Wednesday for the championships that will complete her fantastic indoor season.

Moss, now in her sophomore year at Kentucky, got 12th in the preliminaries of the women’s 400m in 53.19, while Florida junior Doneisha Anderson had to settle for 20th place overall in 54.49. Moss also led Kentucky’s team of new American 200m record holder Abby Steiner, Karimah Davis and Alexis Holmes, the 400m champion, as they finished third in 3:25.89 to erase their school record by nearly two seconds in a heat that saw winners Arkansas and second place Texas all running faster than the previous collegiate record.

Anderson and her Gators competed on the Gators’ distance medley that finished fourth in 11:05.99.

Miller Jr led the way at Big Ten

Shaun Miller Jr, a sophomore at Ohio State, won the duel between two Bahamians with his third place finish in the men’s high jump at the Big Ten Indoor Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

Miller Jr cleared 7-1 ½ (2.17m), but was beaten out on the countback by Rutgers’ senior Perry Christie. Jyles Etienne, the other Bahamian now a senior at Indiana University, was seventh with 6-10 ¾ (2.19m). Winning the title was Nebraska’s junior Mason Conner with 7-2 ½ (2.29m.

Also on the field, Purdue’s senior Tamar Greene cleared 50-8 (15.44m) on his fifth attempt for seventh in the men’s triple jump. Nebraska’s senior Papay Glaywulu won with 52-0 (15.85m) on his second try.

On the track, Ohio State’s sophomore Oscar Smith came through in fourth place in the men’s 60m hurdles in 7.85. Joshua Zeller, a junior at Michigan, won in 7.67. Smith had the seventh fastest qualifying time of 7.82 in the preliminaries.

And Adrian Curry, another sophomore at Ohio State, posted the eighth fastest time in the in the preliminaries of the men’s 60m in 6.76, but he did not compete in the final that was won by Rikkoi Brathwaite, a junior at Indiana in 6.57.

Alcine sixth at Big 12

At the 2022 Big 12 Championships hosted by Iowa State University at the Lied Recreation Center in Ames, Iowa, Kansas State’s senior Kyle Alcine picked up a sixth place finish with 2.14m in the men’s high jump. Oklahoma’s junior Vernon Turner won with 2.23m.

Gibson leads Bahamian connection at Summit League

At the Summit League Indoor Championships in Grand Folks, North Dakota, Oral Roberts’ senior Gabrielle Gibson captured the women’s 60m hurdles title in 10.0 hand-timed, followed by her sophomore team-mate Indea Cartwright in third in 10.2 hand-timed. Gibson qualified for the final with the fastest time in the preliminaries in 8.40m and Cartwright did 8.64 for the third best.

Gibson was third in the women’s 60m in 7.42 and Cartwright came in fifth in 7.63. Rich-Ann Archer, a sophomore at South Dakota State, won the event in 7.32. Gibson had the second fastest qualifying time of 7.48 and Cartwright had the sixth best in 7.65. Oral Roberts’ junior team-mate Lakelle Kinteh had the 16th best time of 7.86.

In the 200m, Gibson was third in 24.19 as Sara Reifenrath, a freshman at South Dakota, won in 23.52. Gibson had the second fastest qualifying time of 24.46, while Angel Pratt, a freshman sat North Dakota State, just missed making the final with ninth place in 25.10 and Cartwright was 11th in 25.33.

Pratt also competed in the 400m where she was sixth in 56.62. The winning time was 53.70 by Reifenrath. Pratt had the fourth fastest qualifying time of 56.96 and Oral Roberts’ senior Chanice Forbes was 13th in 58.78.

On the field, North Dakota State’s junior Daejha Moss was third with 5-07 (1.70m) in an event won by South Dakota’s Daniella Anglin with 5-10 ¾ (1.80m).

Moss also contested the long jump where she came in fourth with 18-10 ½ (5.75m) and Kinteh was 12th with 17-06 ¾ (5.35m). Oral Roberts’ senior Shalom Olotu won with 19-01 ½ (5.83m).

And as she completed the trifecta, Moss ended up fifth in the triple jump with 38-11 ½ (11.87m).

Olutu won the title as well with 40-03 ¼ (12.27m).

Additionally, Pratt contested the pentathlon with a seventh place finish overall with 3,345 points.

North Dakota’s junior Elise Ulseth won the event with 4,080. Pratt was eighth in the 800m in 2:28.02; sixth in the 60m hurdles in 9.29; was tied with two others in the high jump with 4-10 1/2 (1.49m); fifth in the long jump with 17-04 (5.28m) and ninth in the shot put with 32-10 ¼ (10.01m).

On the men’s side, Bradley Dormeus, a senior at Oral Roberts, came in third in the men’s 200m in 21.50 after he posted the fastest qualifying time of 21.29. Demar Francis, a freshman at South Dakota, won the event in 21.36.

And Oral Roberts’ freshman Keithwood Stubbs placed 12th in the men’s high jump with 6-02 ¼ (1.89m). Jack Durst, a junior at South Dakota, won with 6-08 ¼ (2.04m). Stubbs also was 21st in the long jump with 17-10 ¼ (5.44m). North Dakota State’s junior Brandon Lewis won the event with 24-02 ¼ (7.37m).

Adderley at Southland Conference

At the Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, McKendree University transfer Michael Adderley, competing for Incarnate Word, was sixth in the men’s long jump with a leap of 22-07 (6.88m). The winner was Texas A&M Community College’s Trimir Siroki with 24-03 ¾ (7.41m).

Also Aisha Johnson, competing for New Orleans University, was 15th overall in the preliminaries of the women’s 60m in 7.89. She was also 21st in the 200m preliminaries in 26.28.