Sade-Mariah Greenidge’s phenomenal freshman season at the University of Houston continued last weekend with a new junior national record in the 100-metre hurdles at the Conference USA Outdoor Track And Field Championships in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Although she was fifth overall in the final, Greenidge’s time of 13.38 seconds erased Kierre Beckles’ 2008 mark of 13.43 to add to a gold medal at the CARIFTA Games, as well as qualification for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) and World Juniors competitions in the summer with one of the fastest times in the world.
Also in that same race was Karessa Farley, who made a timely return to form with a time of 13.34 to place third after transferring to the University of Central Florida. The race was won in 13.10 seconds in a 1.1 wind, but Tyrell Forde of Memphis struck several hurdles and finished down the field in a disappointing time of 14.85 seconds in the men’s 110 metres hurdles final.
Greenidge’s record was one of several encouraging performances by Barbadians last weekend on the collegiate circuit, with a number of them meeting the qualifying mark for the North America Central America And Caribbean (NACAC) Under-23 Championships in Mexico from July 6 to 8.
In addition to qualifying for the London 2012 Olympic Games with a time of 13.46 in the final of the men’s 110m hurdles, Shane Brathwaite of Texas Tech was also fifth in the final of the men’s 400m hurdles at the Big 12 Championships in Manhattan, Kansas.
Farley’s sister Richelle, now at Kansas State, also had a big weekend, placing fifth in a wind-aided 13.49 seconds in the 100m hurdles, but she would have been even more pleased with the 5 112 points in the heptathlon, a performance that qualified her for the NACAC. The qualifying standard was 4 500 points.
But it was at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Wichita, Kansas, where the Barbadians really made their presence felt.
Indiana’s Greggmar Swift won the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.49 seconds, a clear hurdle on the rest of the field. Were it not for a wind of 3.1 he would have been the third Barbadian qualifying for the Olympic Games in that event.
Schoolmate Ernest Rollins was fourth in the long jump with 7.15m and second in the triple jump with 15.76m.
Fabian Norgrove of Illinois State would have been disappointed with his 49.70 seconds in the men’s 400 metres as he did not reach the final, but the women did very well.
Sade Sealy (53.16), Althia Maximilien (53.74) and Shandel Ellis (54.75) were one-two-three in the 400 metres, with Sealy successfully defending her title in a personal best time.
Sealy, of Illinois State, was also third in the 200m in 23.99 seconds 0.16 behind champion Pernell Joseph. Maximilien of Missouri state was fourth in 24 seconds flat and Ellis, also of Illinois State, reached the final but did not start after a time of 23.94 in the prelims.
The women also featured in their schools’ relays teams in the finals.
At the Big 10 Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, Latoya Griffith of Illinois State won the 400m hurdles in a personal best 57.12 seconds. Mara Weekes of Nebraska was fourth overall in the 100 metres in 11.79 second and eighth in the 200 in 23.98.
Rimar Christie of Northwest Nazarene won the men’s 100 metres at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships in Western Oregon, in 10.79 seconds, off his time of 10.67 in the preliminaries.
Dwayne Layne (53.65) of Long Island and Bucknell’s Kamal Riley (10.77) did not reach the finals in the ECAC Championships in the 400m hurdles and 100m.
At the Aggie Classic in North Carolina, the St Augustine’s duo of Ronnie Griffith (who recently graduated) and Cherrisse Lynch reached the respective finals of the 110m hurdles (14.41) and 400m (56.65), placing sixth and eight.
Ronson Small of the University of Texas at San Antonio is recovering from injury and only managed 14.41m in the triple jump and 23.05 in the 200 metres.
