The 2021 National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I and II Indoor Track and Field Championships are underway, and Bahamians are on the track and in the field competing.
The NCAA Division I meet is being held at the University of Arkansas Razorbacks’ Randal Tyson Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bahamians participating in this meet are Purdue University Boilermakers’ Tamar Greene (men’s triple jump), Washington State University Cougars’ Charisma Taylor (women’s triple jump), University of Kentucky Wildcats’ Megan Moss (women’s 400 meters (m), 4x400m) and University of Florida Gators Doneisha Anderson (women’s 4x400m and distance medley).
The NCAA Division II event is being co-hosted by the University of Montevallo and the City of Birmingham and will be held at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama. In action are Minnesota State University at Mankato Mavericks sophomore Denisha Cartwright (women’s 60m, 60m hurdles, 200m and 4x400m relay), West Texas A&M Buffaloes sophomore Jahmaal Wilson (men’s 60m hurdles) and Minnesota State University at Moorhead Dragons junior Shyrone Kemp (men’s triple jump).
At the NCAA Division I competition, the first Bahamian up is Moss this evening. She is running in the 400m semifinals at 8:25 p.m., competing out of lane three in heat four. Moss enters the race with a personal best time of 52.32 seconds that has her listed as the 12th fastest female quarter-miler in the NCAA Division I. She clocked that time almost two weeks ago at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Track and Field Championships where she finished sixth in a highly competitive race.
If the sophomore qualifies for the final, she will return to action on Saturday at 7:20 p.m.
The 4x400m timed finals race will get underway on Saturday at 8:20 p.m. Moss and her team will be running out of lane four in section three.
This is Moss’ second time qualifying for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships after doing so during the 2019-2020 season. She is one of 11 Wildcats to qualify for the championships. The Wildcats’ Head Coach is Bahamian Rolando “Lonnie” Greene.
Anderson will be up next, running in the distance medley final that gets underway at 9:45 p.m. this evening. The Gators will run out of lane seven.
Like Moss, she will also be in action in the 4x400m timed finals on Saturday night. Anderson and the Gators will be running out of lane five in section two.
Anderson and the Gators’ 4x400m relay team heads into the championship with the sixth-fastest time in the nation – 3:31.75. Anderson did not run with the team when they posted that time at the SEC Championships but is a member of the Gators’ qualifying squad.
The Gators’ distance medley team also has the sixth-fastest time in the nation – 11:00.31. They also made that mark at the SEC Championships.
Anderson also qualified for last year’s canceled meet. The junior is one of 22 Gators entries at the upcoming championships.
Greene will be in the triple jump pit at 2 p.m. on Saturday. He will be the ninth jumper in the preliminaries that will see one flight. The final that will feature the top nine jumpers, will get underway 10 minutes after the first round.
The senior qualified with the 10th best jump in the nation – 16.14m (52’ 11-1/2”). That was his season’s best jump and the third-best mark in Boilermakers’ program history. It was done at the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships two weeks ago at which time he won a bronze medal. It was his third meet of the season.
Greene was one of five Boilermakers athletes to qualify for the prestigious meet under head coach, Bahamian Norbert Elliott.
Jumping in the final field event of the meet, the women’s triple jump, will be Taylor. That event will get underway at 6 p.m. on Saturday at which time she will be the 12th jumper in the flight of jumpers. Like Greene’s event, once she makes it into the top nine, she will be in the final. The final will get underway 10 minutes after the first round.
Taylor is ranked at number 11 in the triple jump event in the nation. Her leap of 13.45m (44’ 1-1/2”) came at the Texas Tech Matador Qualifier back on February 19. She won that event which was her last meet of the regular season. Like Greene, she only took part in three meets this season.
Taylor also qualified for the championships in the triple jump in 2020.
First up for The Bahamas in NCAA Division II competition is Wilson. He will be running in lane six in the second heat in the 60m hurdles semifinals that is slated to get underway today at 3:45 p.m. He hopes to be one of the eight runners who will take part in the final which is set for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Wilson has the fourth-fastest time in the nation in the 60m hurdles, clocking a personal best time of 7.93 seconds at the Lone State Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 20.
He has shown great improvement this season after being unable to get under eight seconds last season. He went under eight seconds twice this season.
Wilson was one of 15 Texas A&M student-athletes who qualified for the championships.
Cartwright will have a busy weekend as she has four events to compete in. Her first event will be the 60m hurdles set for 8:15 p.m. this evening. The junior will run out of lane five in the second heat.
At 8:45 this evening, she will be back on the track to run the 60m dash semifinals. She will run out of lane six in heat two. Following that race, Cartwright will run the 200m semifinals set for 9:25 p.m. She is assigned lane five in heat four. She will hope to be one of the eight qualifiers in those three events that will run their final on Saturday evening. The 60m dash is set for 7:10 p.m. while the 60m hurdles is set for 7:30 p.m. with the 200m final getting underway at 7:50 p.m.
The Bahamian sophomore will also return to the track this evening to run the 4x400m timed finals at 8:20 p.m. She and her team will run out of lane five in section two of three.
In the 60m hurdles, Cartwright has the top time in the nation at 8.41 seconds – a time she was able to produce two weeks ago at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Championships. In the 200m, she is ranked at number three in the national rankings with a time of 24.10 seconds. Again, she recorded that time at the conference championships. Her nationally number four ranked time of 7.52 seconds, in the 60m, was also done at the conference championships.
In the 4x400m, Cartwright’s team has the fifth-fastest time of 3:51.07. They ran that time at the Minnesota State University at Mankato Triangular Meet back on February 12.
Cartwright was named the NSIC Track Athlete and Newcomer of the Year for the indoor season. She is one of 12 Mavericks athletes to qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships.
Kemp’s triple jump event will be a straight final that gets underway at 2 p.m. on Saturday. He will be the third jumper in one flight of jumpers.
The junior has been outstanding all season in the triple jump. He recorded a personal best jump of 15.31m (50’ 2-3/4”) at the NSIC Indoor Track and Field Championships. With that leap, he is ranked third in the nation in the NCAA Division II and broke his own school record of 15.17m (49’ 9-1/4”).
This is the second straight year Kemp qualified for the championships. He is one of two Dragons athletes to qualify for the championships.
The post Bahamians set to compete at NCAA Indoor Championships appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/bahamians-set-to-compete-at-ncaa-indoor-championships/
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