Demisha Roswell shocked everyone, herself included when she won the 100m hurdles at the Big 12 Outdoor Conference Championships at Fuller Field in Lubbock, Texas on Sunday. The Texas Tech senior edged her more heralded compatriot Ackera Nugent, the 2021 World U20 champion and a talented field, clocking 12.44, the second fastest time in the world this season and the fastest in the NCAA.

Only the 12.39 from Tokyo Olympic champion, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, has been faster this year. Nugent’s time for second place, 12.45, is the third fastest time in the world in 2022.

The victory was a bit of a surprise for the 24-year-old Vere Technical and New Mexico Junior College alum, who went into the final having run 12.78 in her preliminary round heat. “No, I didn’t expect the time. I was more excited about the win, to be honest. I’m still in shock!”, she said.

From the gun, Roswell found herself matching strides with Nugent but was never intimidated and had no intention to yield as they raced towards the finish line.

“That’s the crazy part of the race because I told myself I want to win I have to win. I was like “Oh no,  you’re not getting away today,” she said laughing while admitting that she felt something special would happen.

“From the moment I wasn’t nervous I knew I was going to do something great. Ackera is an amazing competitor and the both of us know we got to show out and fight and that’s what I did because I wanted to win.”

Roswell credits her faith in her coaches and continuous hard work in improving her technique for getting her to this point where she is the fastest Jamaican sprint hurdler in the world this year, a significant achievement given her country’s stock in hurdling talent that includes Olympic medallist Megan Tapper, 2015 World Champion and national record holder Danielle Williams, World U20 record holder Brittany Anderson and, of course, Baylor's Nugent.

“The main factors are time, patience and faith,” she said. “Every day I have to keep improving because my hurdling is not perfect but thanks to my coaches for always trying with me to improve my hurdling.

“I don’t have the best hurdles technique because I wasn’t cut out for hurdling. I was just a 200m and a 100m runner when suddenly my coach from back home, John Mair, told me, ‘ Roswell, I think you should do hurdles. I said to him ‘Huh, me? I can’t do hurdles coach. He then said, ‘Listen, to me you’re going to do it so I went for it.”

She said when she moved to the United States to attend New Mexico Junior College, her coaches Keith Blackwill and Tabarie Henry helped her improve her technique even though it still wasn’t perfect. Still, it was good enough to win her the NJCAA Indoor 60mh title and 100mh Outdoor title in 2019 and the 60mh title in 2020.

At Texas Tech, the work to perfect her technique continues.

“Coach (Zach) Glavash got me here and Coach (Calvin) Robinson started work on me. My technique has gotten better from last year until now. I thank God for these coaches every day for working with me even though there is still room for improvement,” she said.

With the sweet taste of victory still lingering, Roswell has an eye on even bigger scalps this summer. She reveals that she plans to earn a spot on Jamaica’s team to the World Championships in Oregon this summer.

 “Most definitely that’s the aim, trying my best to make this national team,” she said.

“(I am) just looking to stay healthy and be ready because hurdling is unpredictable, anything can happen but I won’t be travelling across the ocean and not make the team. So on that day, the time will tell. I put everything in God's hands.”

Julien Alfred, Demisha Roswell and Johnathan Jones pulled off impressive victories as the Big 12 Conference Championships concluded in Lubbock, Texas on Sunday.

Trinidadian Olympian Tyra Gittens was a winner in the high jump at the LSU Invitational where some Caribbean athletes had podium finishes on Saturday.

Baylor’s Ackera Nugent set a facility record to claim the 60m hurdles title at the Big 12 Championships at the Harry Hoak Track in Iowa on Saturday but it was the Texas Longhorns who stole the show winning their fifth consecutive women’s title and second straight men’s crown.

Nugent, a Sophomore at Baylor clocked a fast 7.91, a facility record, to take the sprint hurdles title ahead of Texas Longhorn Milan Young (8.08). Nugent’s Jamaican compatriot Demisha Roswell, a Junior at Texas Tech claimed the bronze medal in 8.20.

Roswell’s Texas Tech freshman teammate, Vashaun Vascianna, won the men’s title in 7.75. The former St Jago and Kingston College hurdler won his preliminary round heat in 7.70 on Friday.

For the Texas Longhorns, Julien Alfred, Tyra Gittens and Stacey-Ann Williams were all on the podium during the two-day championships.

The Longhorns swept the 400m dash, with Kennedy Simon's diving effort of 51.54 seconds to win her first 400m conference title. Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams finished just behind in second at 51.60 seconds, while sophomore Rhasidat Adeleke completed the sweep in third with a time of 52.33.

Texas also enjoyed another sweep in the 200m where St Lucia’s star sprinter Julien Alfred took the title with a time of 22.89 seconds. Kynnedy Flannel was second in 23.02 seconds, while Jamaica’s Kevona Davis finished third in 23.30 seconds.

Alfred was a second-place finisher in the 60m dash, clocking 7.17 seconds, losing by 0.02 to Texas Tech Sophomore Rosemary Chukwuma. Flannel added a third-place finish at 7.30 while Davis added a fifth-place finish at 7.33 seconds.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Tyra Gittens won the silver in the high jump, clearing 1.84m. She was fourth in the long jump competition.

Meanwhile, Baylor’s Women that featured Jamaica’s Kavia Francis would take the 4x400m title in 3:32.77 ahead of Texas Tech (3:35.06) and Oklahoma State (3:36.22).

Britney Anderson has been on a tear this indoor season with three lifetime best times in her last three races.

World U20 sprint hurdles champion, Ackera Nugent, was in record-breaking form on Saturday’s second day of the Larry Wieczorek Invitational at the Recreation Building in Iowa City, Iowa.

Nugent, 19, set a new meet record of 8.11 for the 60m hurdles in the preliminary round and smashed it in the final, running a personal best of 7.90. The winning time was also a new track record, facility record and meet record.

The time moves Nugent to the 11th spot all-time in collegiate indoor track competition and the best-ever U20 time. Her teammate, Kennedy Bailey finished in second place with a time of 8.3 seconds.

For her efforts, Nugent was one of four MVPs at the meet alongside teammates Johnny Brackins who won the triple jump and Tuesdi Tidwell, who triumphed in the pole vault.

Meanwhile, Nugent’s compatriot Kavia Francis and teammates Mariah Ayers, Aaliyah Miller and Gontse Morake finished with a silver medal and a time of 3:40.87 in the 4x400m relay.

Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent put in a dominant performance to claim the women’s 100m hurdles title at the World Athletics U20 Championships, in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday.

The event itself was filled with on-track carnage as Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, who was stride for stride with Nugent early on, clipped the fourth hurdle before crashing into the fifth.

The accident put off Poland’s Weronika Barcz who was also out of the race after hitting the fifth hurdle and perhaps also Slovakia’s Viktória Forster who failed to navigate the seventh obstacle.

Nugent, however, held her nerve to finish comfortably ahead of the field, stopping the clock at 12.95.  Estonia’s Anna Millend was second in 13.45 with Hungary's Anna Tóth third in 13.58.

In the men’s equivalent, Vashaun Vascianna hit the second to last hurdle but still managed to make his way onto the medal podium after finishing second behind France’s Sasha Zhoya.  The Frenchman clocked a world U-20 record 12.72 over the distance, with the Jamaican trailing behind in a personal best 13.25.  Poland’s Jakub Szymański also clocked a personal best, 13.43, to secure the bronze medal.

In the women’s 200m the Jamaicans missed out on the medal spots after Briana Lyston, who crossed the line fourth, was disqualified.  The other Jamaican in the event, Aalliyah Francis finished 7^th in 23.96.  The event was won by Namibia’s Christine Mboma, in a championship record 21.84, with her compatriot Beatrice Masilingi second in 22.18, Nigeria’s Favour Ofili was third in 22.23.

Kavian Kerr won Jamaica’s second medal at the WorldU20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya today when he claimed the bronze medal in the long jump competition.

Sixteen-year-old Tina Clayton produced the most outstanding performance over the weekend (9-11) as her team Jamaica dominated the NACAC U23 and U18 Championships, the first of the area’s regional events in 17 months.

Clayton improved her 100m personal best from 11.25 to 11.17 to claim gold in the U18 category. Despite her impressive time, the best by world ranking standards, the mark was not among the 17 championship records broken at Costa Rica’s National Stadium. Her countrywoman and 2018 world U20 champion Briana Williams kept her 11.11 time clocked at the previous edition in Mexico in 2019.

A world leader among U18 athletes, Clayton’s 11.17 places her third-fastest among U20 athletes in 2021, behind fellow Jamaicans Williams (10.97) and Ackera Nugent (11.09).

Two other 16-year-old Jamaicans also left their mark in San Jose. Alana Reid ran 23.78 for 200m gold and became the first U18 woman to break 24 seconds at the championships. Reid also anchored her team to the 4x100m title in 45.49. She was joined by 100m silver medallist Serena Cole, Clayton and Kerrica Hill.

World leader Jaydon Hibbert broke the 16-metre barrier with a 16.02m leap in the triple jump, a 34cm improvement on his previous best.

The world’s fastest U20 sprint hurdler and fourth-fastest ever, Nugent, returned to the regional event where she placed second in the U18 category and to the same stadium where she claimed silver at the Pan American U20 Championships in 1999. The 2021 NCAA bronze medallist easily dominated the 100m hurdles in 13.64, despite a strong headwind of -2.2m/s.

Sprint hurdler Orlando Bennett (13.65), 400m specialist Charokee Young (52.06) and long jumper Shakwon Coke (7.88m into a -2.6m/s wind) also shone for Jamaica, all in the U23 category. Alicke Cranston also impressed with his 10.42 winning time in the 100m.

Alexander Ogando, member of the bronze medal-winning team for the Dominican Republic at the 2021 World Athletics Relays in Poland, impressed on the final day by winning the 200m in 20.59, just 0.05 shy of his personal best. Ogando, who has run 45.01 for 400m, will be a key piece in his country’s mixed relay at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

With the CARIFTA Games suspended two consecutive years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the regional championships opened an elusive competitive opportunity for U20 athletes in the region. Eighteen-year-old Bahamian Camille Rutherford took the sprint double in 11.36 and 23.42, a personal best at the longer distance.

National record-holder and Tokyo-bound Jonathan Jones won one of the five gold medals for Barbados by covering the one-lap race in 46.20, in a close battle with Jamaica’s 2018 world U20 silver medallist Christopher Taylor, who was second with 46.58. Taylor is also qualified for the Summer Games.

Shiann Salmon, Taylor, 100m silver medallist Odaine Mcpherson and Young joined their efforts to set a new standard of 3:20.71 in the mixed relay, contested for the first time at the championships. Their Jamaican teammates Kishay Rowe, Roshawn Clarke, Oneika Brissett and Delano Kennedy set the new time of 3:25.27 in the U18 category.

 Juan Diego Castro led the home team with a victory in the 800m in 1:48.82. Fourth at the 2017 World U18 Championships, he has improved his national record in both the 800m and 1500m. His 17-year-old compatriot Sharon Lisseth Herrera set a meeting record in the 5000m race walk with 23:18.14.

In the same event, Guatemala’s Yasury Betzayda Palacios rewrote the record books with a 22:31.13 effort in the U23 category. In total 13 records were broken, plus the two mixed relays.

With 61 athletes, Jamaica dominated the medal tally with 67 medals (39 gold, 18 silver and 10 bronze), ahead of the host nation (19-20-23=62) and Bahamas (17-18-7=42). All 19 participating nations won at least one medal. Due to Covid restrictions, some regional powerhouses did not attend, including the United States, Canada, Cuba and Mexico.

Baylor University’s Ackera Nugent continued her impressive freshman season on Saturday with a pair of wins at the Aggie Invitational at Bryan-College Station in Texas.

Ackera Nugent showed her class on Saturday night, winning the 2021 NCAA Indoor 60-metre hurdles title for Baylor University title on Saturday night.

Ackera Nugent was announced as the Big 12 Conference’s Women’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year on Thursday.

Jamaica and Baylor University hurdler, Ackera Nugent, had to settle for second spot on the heels of a blistering run from Texas Longhorn Chanel Brissett, in the women’s 60mh final, at the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday.

In the preliminary round, it was Nugent who grabbed the headlines, after storming to an impressive 7.91 seconds, well clear of Brissett who took second in 8.06. 

In the final, however, it was Brissett who set the track on fire after finishing first in 7.89 for a new meet record.  Nugent finished second in 7.98 with Texas’ Emelia Chatfield third in 8.05.

In the women’s 60m, another Jamaican Kevona Davis was narrowly edged out for the top spot after finishing just behind Texas teammate Kynnedy Flannel.  Flannel clocked 7.25 for first place, Davis clocked the same time with the two separated by milliseconds.  Monae Nichols was third in 7.46.  In the women’s 200m the finishing order for the Texas teammates was the same, with Flannel taking top spot in 22.55 and Davis second in 22.87.  Baylor University’s Aria Minor was third in 23.03.

At the SEC Indoor Championships, there was a top spot finish for Jamaica and LSU sprint hurdler Damion Thomas, who took top spot in 7.60, a new personal best.  LSU teammate Eric Edwards JR was second in 7.67, with Arkansas Tre’Bien Gilbert third in 7.70.

World U18 100m hurdles record holder set a new personal best while winning the 60m hurdles at the Aggie Invitational in Bryan-College Station in Texas on Saturday.

Emerging sprinter Kiara Grant of Norfolk State University and Ackera Nugent of Baylor were among several Jamaicans who produced top NCAA performances between Friday and Saturday as the collegiate indoor circuit unfolded in earnest in the United States.