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• SEC Field Athlete of the Week honour for Wayne Pinnock

  Opening his outdoor season with a wind-aided mark of 8.44m to win the long jump at the LSU Invitational earned Razorback Wayne Pinnock the SEC Field Athlete of the Week honour, as announced by the conference office on Tuesday. This was Pinnock’s first competition since winning the NCAA Indoor long jump title in mid-March, when he improved his world-leading indoor mark to 8.40m.

  Pinnock, the 2023 World Championships silver medalist, has been the world leader in the long jump since the 2023 outdoor season, with a leap of 8.54m from the World Championships qualification round. His winning effort at LSU is the 2024 outdoor world-leading performance under all-conditions as it was aided by a 5.8m/s wind. It also ranks him as the number-eight performer on the collegiate all-time list under all-conditions, which includes five wind-aided marks among the top 11 performers.

  With only three jumps in his series, Pinnock opened with 8.15m that was assisted with a 7.1m/s wind. In the third round, with a 2.3 wind, Pinnock traveled 8.25m/s.

• Pinnock opens outdoor season with wind-aided 8.44m at LSU Invitational; Nugent wins sprint hurdles

  A pair of Jamaica’s representatives at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Wayne Pinnock and Ackera Nugent, were among a number of Caribbean winners at Saturday’s LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge.

  Pinnock, who took long jump silver in Budapest, produced a wind-aided 8.44m (5.8 m/s) to claim victory in his first outdoor competition this season.

  The 23-year-old Arkansas star, who won gold at both the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this year, opened his competition with 8.15m in the first round before producing his winning distance in the second.

  He had one more jump in the third round (8.25m) before passing on his final three attempts.

  Florida State’s Curtis Williams was second with 7.99m while Florida’s Malcolm Clemons was third with 7.94m. Another Jamaican, Florida State’s Jordan Turner, produced 7.84m for fourth.

  The women’s long jump was won by Bahamian Florida sophomore Anthaya Charlton with a best jump of 6.74m. Arkansas’s Nia Robinson was second with 6.70m while Georgia Tech’s Ameia Wilson was third with 6.56m.

  In her fourth 100m hurdles race of the young season, Ackera Nugent, who was fifth in the final in Budapest, produced 12.57 to take victory ahead of Canada’s Mariam Abdul-Rashid (12.69) and LSU’s Leah Phillips (12.71).

  Nugent’s season’s best, which currently stands at 12.52, was done in a fourth-place finish at the Tom Jones Invitational on April 13.

  Arkansas also prevailed in the men’s high jump through another member of Jamaica’s team at last year’s World Championships, Romaine Beckford.

  Beckford, the reigning NCAA indoor and outdoor and Jamaican national champion, had a best jump of 2.23m to win ahead of Georgia’s Riyon Rankin (2.20m) and his Arkansas teammate Kason O’Riley (2.20m).

  Guyana’s Natricia Hooper produced 13.92m to win the women’s triple jump ahead of Mylana Hearn (13.78m) and LSU’s Morgan Smalls (13.17m).

  Arkansas’s Apalos Edwards jumped 16.43m for second in the men’s equivalent won by Air Houston’s Chris Carter (16.70m). Florida State’s Kyvon Tatham jumped 16.00m for third.

  The women’s 400m saw Vincentian 800m record holder Shafiqua Maloney and reigning Jamaican national champion and Arkansas star Nickisha Pryce run 51.29 and 51.35 for second and third, respectively, behind American Alexis Holmes who ran 50.80 to win.

  Jamaica’s Lashanna Graham ran 58.16 for third in the women’s 400m hurdles behind American Anna Cockrell (54.74) and Georgia’s Dominique Mustin (56.52).

  Florida’s Jevaughn Powell ran 20.28 to take second in the men’s 200m behind Arkansas’s Makanakaishe Charamba who won in 20.11. Arkansas’s Lance Lang ran 20.36 in third.

  Powell also represented Jamaica in Budapest, running in the heats of the 4x400m relay.

   

   

• Smith produces season’s best to win long jump at Texas Invitational

  Texas junior Ackelia Smith produced an NCAA leading performance to take top spot on day one of the Texas Invitational at the Mike A. Myers Stadium on Friday.

  The 22-year-old reigning NCAA champion produced a season’s best 7.10m, her first jump over 7m this season, to win ahead of Trinidadian Puma athlete Tyra Gittens (6.72m) and UTSA’s Ida Breigan (6.65m).

  This is a welcome return to form for Smith who suffered a torn hamstring at the NCAA Indoor Championships in early March.

  Smith was Jamaica’s national champion in the long jump in 2022 and was a finalist in both the long and triple jump at that year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.