Grenadian athletes Aaliyah Gidharry and Michael Francois delivered gold-medal performances at the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Hutchinson, Kansas, on Saturday, underlining a strong showing for the island nation on the U.S. collegiate circuit.
Gidharry, representing Central Arizona Community College, showcased her versatility and endurance to win the women’s heptathlon with a total of 4,833 points. The demanding seven-event discipline tested the 20-year-old across hurdles, jumps, throws, and the 800m, and she rose to the occasion with consistent performances that capped off a season marked by steady improvement.
Francois, competing for Iowa Western Community College, produced one of the meet’s standout performances in the men’s 400 metres. The former St David’s Catholic Secondary School athlete stormed to a personal best 45.40 seconds, slicing more than three-tenths of a second off his previous mark of 45.73 set earlier in the season. His commanding win confirmed his status as one of the NJCAA’s premier quarter-milers this season.
Grenada’s medal haul at the championships extended beyond the two golds. Suerena Alexander of South Plains College claimed silver in the women’s javelin with a personal best throw of 47.62 metres, while her teammate Isaiah Patrick secured bronze in the men’s 110m hurdles, clocking 13.79 seconds in a hotly contested race.
The success of Grenadian athletes wasn’t limited to junior college competition. At the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Kansas, Ahshareah Enoe of Kansas State earned a silver medal in the women’s high jump. The Petite Martinique native matched her national record of 1.88 metres before narrowly missing out on 1.94m. The event was won by Texas Tech’s Temitope Adeshina, who cleared a meet-record 1.97m.
Elsewhere, at the SEC Championships in Lexington, Kentucky, Kelsie Murrel-Ross continued Grenada’s medal momentum by claiming bronze in the women’s shot put with a season’s best effort of 18.00 metres.
And, at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships in Tennessee, Louisiana Tech’s Jamara Patterson advanced to the final of the women’s 400 metres after clocking 53.79 seconds in the preliminary round. She will aim to add to Grenada’s growing medal count when she competes in Sunday’s final.