Anderson breaks 800m record, Pinnock wins at NCAA Champs

A few Jamaicans shone brightly at the NCAA Men’s Track & Field National Championships in Eugene this week.

• St Andrew parish celebrate 21st JTA/Sagicor National Athletics Championship victory
• Shericka Jackson wins big ahead of Jamaica Trials
• Jackson 21.91 beats Thompson-Herah in Rome

On the track, Navasky Anderson broke the 45-year-old Jamaica 800-meter national record on Friday with 1:45.02 to earn silver for Mississippi State. The former St. Jago standout broke Seymour Newman’s 1:45.30 timing recorded in 1977.

In May, Anderson tasted championship success during the SEC tournament, where he set his previous personal best of 1:45.80 for the Bulldogs.

Anderson trailed Brandon Miller and Moad Zahafi for a majority of the race. He would eventually kick at around 600 meters to pull even with and eventually outlean Miller at the finish line, but would fail to catch Texas Tech’s Moroccan star Zahafi, who fulfilled his promise as the collegiate leader in the 800 (1:43.69) to become national champion, albeit in a slower 1:44.49.

Miller of Texas A&M, who spent the first 500 meters in front, had to settle for third in 1:45.09.

In the NCAA Championships field, Wayne Pinnock duplicated his indoor success outside on Wednesday by winning his signature long jump event. The former Kingston College man jumped 8.00 meters (26 feet, 3 inches) to win gold for the University of Tennessee on his final attempt, barely denying the previous leader Jeremiah Davis of Florida State.

_______________________________________________________________
Please help us get to 50,000 subscribers on YouTube by visiting TrackalertsTV at this link to subscribe, like and share our stories … Also follow us and like our social media pages – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @trackalerts. Please send us a message on WhatsApp at 631-609-9166 or email us at [email protected].