Jamaica’s Tarees Rhoden put a feather in his cap with success over 800m for Clemson University at the Atlantic Coast Conference indoor championships in Blacksburg, Virginia last weekend. His Clemson teammate Daniel Cope and University of Virginia standout Owayne Owens made it a Jamaica hat trick with big wins.

Rhoden, the 2019 Kingston College track and field captain, took off with 300 metres to go and defied his pursuers in 1 minute 48.62 seconds on February 26. He came back to help Clemson win the 4×400 relay final with a 47.3-second contribution. Clemson clocked 3 minutes 09.48 seconds.

Like Rhoden, Cope is in his first season at Clemson and the former Petersfield discus ace continued his fine form in the weight throw. Cope produced a Clemson record and personal best of 22.28m to win and had another big effort – 21.75 – in his collection.

Owens logged a personal best – 16.65m – of his own to complete the hat trick in the triple jump. Earlier in the season, the former Cornwall College leaper had posted a mark of 16.60m.

Reigning NCAA Indoor 60m hurdles champion Ackera Nugent won her event for Baylor University at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, in Ames, Iowa in 7.91 seconds.

The 2021 World Under 20 100m hurdles champion was grateful.

“To be runner-up last year and coming back and take the win, it really means a lot to me”, she said. She will now turn her attention to defending her NCAA title. “To be honest, it means that I’m actually up there with the girls who are leading right now, and all I need to do as an athlete is to just stay focused and hold my expectation of myself and just do what I’ve got to do”, she calculated.

At the same meet, Vashaun Vascianna of Texas Tech and Jamaica clocked a promising personal best of 7.64 seconds in the heats of the men’s 60m hurdles. The 2021 World Under 20 110 hurdles runner-up clattered hurdles in the final but survived to win in 7.75.

“I didn’t like the race but it was alright. I came out with the win so I’m grateful”, he confessed.

2021 Tokyo Olympian Stacey-Ann Williams lost her Big 12 title but clocked a notable time of 51.60 seconds as the runner-up in the 400m.

Jamaica’s growing field event prowess was evident at the South Eastern Conference meet, at College Station, Texas. Lamara Distin, the Texas A&M University student-athlete, set a high jump meet record of 1.91m and Olympian Carey McLeod long jumped 8.09m and took the gold back to the University of Tennessee.