Nathan Cum­ber­batch rewrote the na­tion­al men’s 1,500-me­tre record when he clocked three min­utes and 43.55 sec­onds (3:43.55) on his way to vic­to­ry at the Uni­ver­si­ty of South Cal­i­for­nia (USC) ver­sus Uni­veristy of Cal­i­for­nia-Los An­ge­les (UCLA) dual meet in Los An­ge­les, Cal­i­for­nia on May 4.

Cum­ber­batch erased the pre­vi­ous mark of 3:45.09 set by Shel­don Mon­dorey in Lahti, Fin­land in 1998. The sec­ond-year USC stu­dent al­so won the 800m in 1:48.12 to se­cure the dis­tance dou­ble on his home track.

The 2022 Carif­ta boys’ Un­der-20 800m cham­pi­on came with­in a sec­ond of Mon­deroy’s record at the Tro­jan In­vite in March when he clocked 3:45.33. How­ev­er, the com­fort in front of his col­leagues at USC seemed to give him the edge two months lat­er.

The na­tion­al mark is the sec­ond for Cum­ber­batch in as many years fol­low­ing his na­tion­al U-20 clock­ing of 1:47.78 in 2024.

The 2025 sea­son has so far been a stel­lar one for the Abi­lene Wild­cats rep­re­sen­ta­tive as he low­ered his per­son­al best (pb) in the 800m to 147.70 in rac­ing to gold at the Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty (LSU) Bat­tle of the Bay­ou Ba­ton Rouge, Louisiana in March. The 20-year-old al­so set a new pb in the 400m stop­ping the clock in 47.47 in Texas in April.

Mean­while, re­cent­ly-crowned Carif­ta cham­pi­ons Gi­an­na Paul, Christo­pher Sam­my and Tyrique Vin­cent were all in ac­tion in the US fol­low­ing their gold­en per­for­mances at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um in Mu­cu­rapo, Port-of-Spain over the East­er week­end (April 19-21).

Paul sailed to the Carif­ta girls’ U-20 long jump ti­tle with a last round leap of 6.48m. The High Point stu­dent fin­ished fifth in the women’s long jump at the Duke Twi­light Meet in Durham, Illi­nois on May 4 with a mark of 5.83m.

Paul’s broth­er, Michal, the Carif­ta boys’ U-17 long jump bronze medal­list, raced to the boys’ 200m and 400m sprint ti­tles at the Flori­da High Schools 1A Dis­trict 8 meet on April 23 in times of 22.35 and 49.92, re­spec­tive­ly. He re­turned to an­chor his Odyssey Char­ter High School’s 4x400m team to vic­to­ry in Re­gion 2 on May 4. Michal was al­so sec­ond in th 200m (22.80) and the 400m (49.09).

Sam­my, who thrilled the home fans at the Carif­ta Games, with his vic­to­ries in the boys’ U-17 1,500m and 3,000m, led Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege (QRC) team­mates to sil­ver in the High Schools In­ter­na­tion­al boys’ 4x400m re­lay. Sam­my, Ha­keem Sa­landy, Dae­shaun Cole and Ja­heim Mc Far­lane com­bined to clock 3:21.66. QRC (Stephon James, Ky­mani Rol­locks, Ja­heim Mc­Far­lane, Dae­shaun Cole) was al­so eighth in the High Schools boys’ 4x100m fi­nals (42.56). In the heats, QRC was sev­enth (42.90).

Vin­cent, who pre­vailed in the Carif­ta boys’ U-20 de­cathlon, se­cured bronze in the High Schools Boys long jump with a per­son­al best leap of 7.12m.

His Fa­ti­ma Col­lege col­leagues missed out on a medal in the High Schools boys’ 4x400m. The quar­tet of Qayshon Roberts, Eli­jah Gibbs-Clarke, Levi Smith and Tyriq Springer com­bined to take fourth place in 3:28.86. St Bene­dict’s (Kyphm Richards, Je­re­mi­ah Joseph, Justin Dowridge, Jaleel Sem­per) was ninth best (3:33.82).

St Bene­dict’s (Justin Dowridge, Kadeem Chi­napoo, Ka­mari Di­az, Isa­iah Black­man) end­ed in 36th in the High Schools 4x100m heats in 43.08. Fa­ti­ma (Qayshon Roberts, Gio­van­ni Bobb-Sem­ple, Eli­jah Bobb-Sem­ple, Yohance Ather­ton) al­so 43rd (43.27) in the their sec­tion of the 4x100m heat.

Trin­i­ty Col­lege East (Jor­dan James, Kel­son Pe­ters, Isa­iah Ma­habir, Ar­mani Dil­lon) was 14th in their 4x400m race in 3:40.69. Trin­i­ty Col­lege East (Kay­o­de Lee, Jor­dan James, Kel­son Pe­ters, Isa­iah Ma­habir) was in 44th in their 4x100m heats in 44.92.

For­mer Carif­ta girls’ U-17 4x100m gold medal­list Alexxe Hen­ry an­chored her Ja­maican school Ed­win Allen to the High Schools girls’ 4x100m Cham­pi­onship of Amer­i­ca. Hen­ry took her team over the line in pour­ing rain in 44.23.