By Michael Bascombe
NEW YORK – Grenada’s Meleni Rodney and Halle Hazzard picked up silver and bronze respectively at the Dr Sander Invitational/Columbia Challenge at the New Balance Track & Field Centre (The Armory) in New York last Saturday (26 Jan).
In the timed finals, Rodney (UCLA) won her 200 metres section in 24.05 seconds and Hazzard (University of Virginia) also won her section in 24.09. Florida State’s Jayla Kirkland copped the gold in 23.76.
This is the second top finish for Hazzard at the meet who took the bronze in the 60m on Friday. Hazzard clocked 7.32 seconds behind Florida State’s Kirkland (7.28) and Ka’Tia Seymour (7.30).
Her previous best of 7.36 seconds was clocked at the same venue when she competed as a senior for St Anthony’s High School at the New Balance Games.
The University of Virginia’s school record stood at 7.37 seconds set by Kiamesha Otey in 2003.
“The 60m final was a very competitive race and I knew I would have very good competition and I think I did very well,” said Hazzard.
“I basically grew up here watching my brother runs here, watching my sister runs here so it’s really nostalgic coming back and I love every minute of it,” in reminiscing on the Armory track.
Rodney also ran a second-leg split of 55.15 seconds in the Women’s 4x400m College. ULCA finished 7th overall in a time of 3:47.83.
Another Grenadian Aleigh Mc Intrye also ran the opening leg for the All Stars in the Men’s 4x200m. He teamed with Kervin Morgan (Trinidad & Tobago), Orane Thompson (Jamaica) and Andre Marcano (Trinidad & Tobago) to finish third (1:30.12) behind Jamaica (1:25.61) and USA (1:26.33).
In other weekend results, Amanda Crawford (St Augustine’s University) won the Women’s 200m at the Finn Pincus Invitational in Salem, Virginia. Her winning time was 25.64 seconds
Josh Boateng (Texas A&M Commerce) broke his national indoor Shot Put record at the Pittsburg State Invitational in Kansas. He finished sixth with 17.41 metres to better the previous record of 16.77m he set last January at the Pima Aztec Invitational in Tuscon, Arizona. His new mark is also a new school record. The previous best was 17.31m.
Johann Jeremiah (Central Arizona) won the Men’s Shot Put at the Paradise Valley Indoor Invitational in Arizona. He took the gold with 15.08 metres and also qualified for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Nationals on March 1-2.
Three other Grenadian athletes also booked spots to the NJCAA Nationals in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Kurt Modeste, Phillip Marcelle and Keron Charles qualified for their respective events at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston.
Both Modeste and Marcelle were second in their 400m sections in 48.60 and 48.95 respectively. Charles clocked 1:55.80 in the 800m to qualify for the championships on March 1-2. He also returned with limited rest to compete in the 1000m and clocked 2:37.10.
Modeste and Marcelle also helped their team in qualifying for the 4x400m relay as the quartet combined a time of 3:21.25 and Charles featured in the 4x800m relay (7:51.54) where they qualified for the nationals and also broke the school record.
In high school competition, Brandon Gittens ran the third leg in the Boys 4x400m relay for Paul Robeson High School at the Bullis Invitational at the New Balance Track & Field Centre on Saturday night. His school won the event in 3:24.18.
Also competing for Paul Robeson HS was Holly Charles, who won the Girls Shot
While at the Grace Jackson Meet at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, Kyle Bowen (Kingston College) continues preparations in the multi-events. He competed in the discus throw where he registered 30 metres and a time of 16.30 seconds in the 110m hurdles after leading the first four hurdles but fell back to third after stretching and hitting half way through the event.
