Goule stars for LSU at NCAA Championships
By Dania Bogle
Several Jamaican athletes were in the winner’s circle at the NCAA Division One Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Natoya Goule prepared for the country’s national championships at the end of the month by winning the women’s 800m outdoor Goule became the first Louisiana State University Lady Tiger to win both indoor and outdoor titles after capturing the event in a personal best 2:00.06 – the fourth fastest time in LSU history.
Her time was just off the IAAF World Championships qualifying standard of 2:00.00.
Her teammate Damar Forbes of LSU secured the men’s long jump title with a distance of 8.35m with a positive wind of 2.9m/s.
Kamal Fuller of BAMA leapt 7.83m to finish sixth in the event while another Jamaican Tarik Batchelor did not finish. Batchelor leapt 15.55m to finish 15th in the men’s triple jump.
Shanieka Thomas of San Diego State also won the triple jump – her distance 14.14m. Jhanelle McLeod finished 14th in the event with 12.92m.
Chad Wright secured second in the men’s discus with a distance of 63.74m after the Nebraska State athlete finished fifth in the shot put with a distance of 18.95m.
Kemoy Campbell who had a brilliant outdoor season with Arkansas failed to improve on his national record after posting 13:47.70 for fifth in the men’s 500m.
Jamaicans Nikita Tracey and Danielle Dowie brought up the rear in the women’s 400m final. Tracey (now with LSU claimed seventh in 57.03 seconds while Dowie of Texas was seventh in 57.29.
Jody Ann Muir of Mississippi State was well off her season’s best (52.02) in finishing seventh in the women’s 400m in a time of 52.56 seconds. Arkansas’ Akheem Gauntlett was seventh in the men’s equivalent in a time of 46.10 improving on the 46.14 he set at the West Regionals.
Danniel Thomas threw a season’s best 54.78m for eighth in the women’s discus and was 19th in the shot put with a distance of 15.37m.
Elsewhere in the field, Chanice Porter of University of Georgia was 14th in the women’s long jump with a distance of 6.14m.