Navasky Anderson wasn’t the only US-based Jamaican to stride into the spotlight last weekend. Demisha Roswell and Ackera Nugent pressed the accelerator in the 100m hurdles to produce performances that now place them in the all-time Jamaica top ten.

Demisha Roswell wins Big12 100m Hurdles in a Nail-biter finish with a new PB.

Roswell, the former Vere Technical hurdler who now studies at Texas Tech University, graced her home track in Lubbock, Texas with a swift display at the Big 12 Conference Championships. Roswell surged off the last hurdle to edge 2021 World Under 20 champion Nugent, 12.44 to 12.45 seconds. Those established personal bests for both ladies and placed them 4th and 5th respectively on the Jamaica all-time list.

The only Jamaicans to have gone faster are 2015 World Champion Danielle Williams, Janeek Brown and Britany Anderson.

Nugent is now level with 2009 World Champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton who clocked 12.45 seconds in 2003 to set what was then a national record.

The Big 12 meet also produced personal times for Kevona Davis, who clocked 10.95 and 22.26 seconds en route to second place in the 100m and 200m, and a win in the 400m by 2021 Olympic mixed 4x400m relay participant Stacey-Ann Williams at 50.21 seconds. Williams will likely encounter fellow Jamaican Charokee Young at the NCAA Championships next month.

On April 16, Young became the tenth fastest Jamaican of all-time over 400m with a clocking of 49.87 seconds at the Florida Relays. Williams & Young from the University of Texas and Texas A&M University respectively.

High jumper Lamara Distin won as expected at the South Eastern Conference (SEC) meet on May 13. Already the NCAA Indoor champion, Distin cleared 1.95m to continue her fine season. Two weeks earlier, the lanky Texas A&M jumper flew over a national record and world-leading height of 1.97m.

There was a Jamaican 1-2 at the SEC, with Wayne Pinnock and 2021 Olympian Carey McLeod posting jumps of 8.05m and 7.91m for the University of Tennessee. Pinnock got his best mark on the first attempt.

In Durham, North Carolina, Jamaican Trishuana Hemmings won the Atlantic Coast Conference 100m hurdles in 13 seconds flat for Clemson University. Clemson took the men’s 4x400m with 800m specialist Tarees Rhoden aboard. Earlier in the meet, Rhoden raced to second place in his pet event with a personal best of 1 minute 47.41 seconds.

His Jamaican teammate Roje Stona finished second in the discus, a finish mirrored by Ralford Mullings at the PAC-12 Conference Championships with a throw of 63.47m. The Jamaican in the spotlight there was Kemba Nelson. Running on her home track at the University of Oregon, Nelson did the sprint double with a season’s best in the 100m — 11.05 — and a personal best in the 200m — 22.74 seconds.