By Gary Smith, TrackAlerts.com contributor
Trinidad and Tobago duo Michelle-Lee Ahye and Richard Thompson won the 100m sprints titles at the Ponce Grand Prix at Paquito Montaner Stadium in Ponce, Puerto Rico on Saturday.
Ahye flashed to a new personal best time of 11.04 seconds (-0.9), to win the women’s race, beating American Alexandria Anderson, who ran 11.24 and Jamaica’s Carrie Russell, who crossed the line, at 11.32.
Thompson led a 1-2 finish in the men’s race, posting 10.21 (-0.2), to win ahead of Keston Bledman (10.24).
Third place went to Antoine Adams of St. Kitts & Nevis in 10.27.
Patricia Hall of Jamaica took the women’s 400m crown in 51.55, with Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ Kineke Alexander (51.70) and USA’s Jessica Beard (51.82) also below 52-seconds on the day.
World Champion Lashawn Merritt of USA produced a meeting record and world-leading 44.14 to win the men’s title after winning section two of the event over season rival Luguelin Santos from the Dominican Republic, who clocked 44.53 for second place.
American David Verburg ran 45.03 for third, with former World and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner of USA finishing sixth in 46.01.
Also on the evening, Duane Solomon of USA won the men’s 800m in a meeting record of 1:44.79 and Shane Brathwaite of Barbados won the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.37 (-0.4).
