Jamaicans Kemba Nelson and Ackera Nugent, both 2021 NCAA Indoor champions, made good starts to their 2022 campaigns on the weekend. Nelson zipped to the fastest time over 60m by a US-based college athlete while Nugent set a personal best over the same distance.

Nelson, who won the 60m at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships, clocked 7.19 seconds to edge home at the Cougar Classic in Spokane, Washington on January 15. The University of Oregon speedster had a very slim margin over US sprinter Destiny Smith-Barrett who was credited with the same time. Her effort just missed the fastest time by a Jamaican so far in the 2022 season – 7.18 seconds by Olympic relay gold medallist Briana Williams the previous evening in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Nelson, who attended the University of Technology and Mount Alvernia High School in Jamaica, cruised 7.25 seconds in the first round.

In a show of sprinting strength by Oregon, Nelson’s American stablemate Micah Williams won the men’s 60m in a world-leading time of 6.48 seconds, Like Nelson, he won the NCAA 60m crown last year.

Nugent won her 2021 NCAA title for Baylor University in the 60m hurdles but opened her season in the flat event on January 14 and clicked to a personal best of 7.27 seconds to win the final at the Corky Classic, in Lubbock, home of Texas Tech University. Nugent, who went on to win the World Under 20 100m hurdles in Nairobi, also won her heat in 7.30 seconds.

Nugent, who emerged as a fine prospect at Excelsior High School, helped Baylor’s winning 4x400m relay team with a 56.5 third leg.

In other weekend events on the US indoor circuit, Natoya Goule, Jordan Scott, and Danielle Williams posted eye-catching performances. Goule, a 2021 Olympic 800m finalist, won the 1000m at the Clemson Invite, circling the track in 2 minutes 41.03 seconds. In the same meet, Williams, the World 100m hurdles champion in 2015, ran her 60m hurdles heat in 7.92 seconds and skipped the final to focus on speed in the flat 60m where she was third in a personal best of 7.29.

The Clemson meet also saw big efforts in the weight throw. Daniel Cope, the former Petersfield High School ace, scored a Clemson University record with a distance of 20.99m and Marie Forbes, brilliant in the discus at Vere Technical, pushed her personal best to 19.75m. Cope and Forbes both finished as runners-up.

Scott won the triple jump in the Virginia Tech Invite, staged in Blacksburg, with a leap of 16.27m. Formerly of Cornwall College, Scott won the 2019 NCAA indoor triple jump title and finished runner-up outdoors for the University of Virginia. Later that season, he jumped for Jamaica in Doha, Qatar at the 2019 World Championships.