Otabor qualifies for NCAA Championships

It may just be her freshman season but that did not stop Bahamian junior national record holder in the girls javelin, Rhema Otabor, from punching her ticket to the 2021 NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The Florida International University (FIU) Panthers athlete threw the qualifying throw of 50.25 meters (m) – 164’ 10” on her first throw. She placed 12th overall at the 2021 NCAA Division I East Preliminaries at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, yesterday.

It was not her best throw of the season but the throw got the job done. On her two other throws, Otabor fouled and posted a 45.17m (148’ 2”) throw. Her season’s and personal best is 54.19m (177’ 9”).

The former Nassau Christian Academy (NCA) athlete was one of three freshmen to qualify for the championships in the girls javelin.

Auburn University Tigers Kylee Carter posted a throw of 56.01m (183’ 9”) to win the competition yesterday.

The NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships is slated for June 9-12 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

A trio of Bahamians were in action in the women’s 100m hurdles preliminaries at the NCAA West Preliminaries at Texas A&M’s E.B. Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas. Running in the event were Washington State University (WSU) Cougars Charisma Taylor, and Oral Roberts University (ORU) Golden Eagles duo Sasha Wells and Gabrielle Gibson.

Qualifying for the quarterfinal with a wind-aided 13.19 seconds was Wells who had the 18th fastest time. She placed third running out of the second heat. Gibson also qualified when she ran a wind-aided 13.20 seconds in heat five to place 19th overall. Taylor was not so fortunate as her 13.37 seconds time was not enough to move on to the quarterfinals.

Baylor University Bears Ackera Nugent clocked the fastest time of 12.63 seconds.

On Wednesday, Samson Colebrooke ran a season’s best of 10.18 seconds in the preliminary round of the 100m at Hodges Stadium. He finished with the seventh-fastest time in the preliminaries to qualify for the quarterfinals. The Purdue University Boilermakers senior ran out of lane six in the second heat that produced three other qualifiers. He finished third in that heat to automatically qualify to the next round. The fastest time overall was clocked by Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers Terrance Laird – 10 seconds flat.

Also running on Wednesday in the 100m preliminaries was Bahamian Adrian Curry. The Ohio State Buckeyes’ junior clocked 10.57 seconds to finished 44th overall.

Colebrooke also qualified for the quarterfinals in the 200m after running the 15th fastest time of 20.84 seconds. He finished fourth running out of heat two.

Clocking the fastest time in those preliminaries was the University of Florida Gators’ Joseph Fahnbulleh with a wind-aided time of 20.22 seconds.

Colebrooke will be back in action today in the quarterfinals of those two races.

In the 110m hurdles, Xavier Coakley ran 13.83 seconds. The University of Miami Hurricanes’ redshirt senior finished with the 21st fastest time in the preliminaries. He ran out of lane eight in the third heat, finishing third in that heat. Coakley’s personal best is 13.81 seconds that he ran last month.

Posting the fastest time in the preliminaries was the University of Kentucky Wildcats’ Tai Brown in 13.47 seconds.

At the west preliminaries on Wednesday, Shakeem Smith was able to qualify in both the 100 and 400m hurdles.

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners senior clocked 50.94 seconds to finish with the 16th fastest time in the 400m hurdles preliminaries. It was far off his personal best of 49.82 seconds but he still managed to qualify for the quarterfinals. He ran in the first heat in which he placed fourth.

The fastest time in the 400m hurdles was 49.68 seconds, done by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Islanders’ Leonardo Ledgister.

In the 110m hurdles, Smith was the final qualifier for the quarterfinals with a time of 13.90 seconds. He finished fifth in his heat but was able to qualify as one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers.

The fastest time was recorded by the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Jaylan McConico with a time of 13.34 seconds.

Terrence Jones was also in action for his team, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, in the 200m preliminaries. The freshman finished with the 10th fastest time with a wind-aided 20.58 seconds to qualify for the quarterfinals set for this evening. He finished fourth in a speedy heat three.

The fastest time in the prelims came from the University of Texas Longhorns’ Micaiah Harris in 20.40 seconds.

In the long jump event, the University of Arkansas Razorbacks’ Laquan Nairn posted a jump of 7.40m (24’ 3-1/2”) on his first attempt. He placed 27th overall and missed out on being in the top 12 that will head to the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Nairn will try to qualify in the triple jump event today.

The NCAA east and west preliminaries continue today and will wrap up tomorrow.

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