T&T quartermiler Dwight St Hillaire missed out on a podium finish in the men’s 400 metres, crossing fourth in men’s final at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Championships in Texas, USA, on Saturday.
The Univesity of Kentucky junior clocked 45.12 seconds to follow to the line, gold medallist Louisiana State University (LSU) sophomore Noah Williams (44.37), who bettered the facility record of 45.61, Texas A&M senior Bryce Deadmon (44.55) and Georgia sophomore Elija Godwin (44.61), who both ran a personal best for second third places, respectively.
Earlier, St Hillaire produced a quick 45.27 to progress to the medal race. Competing in heat one, the T&T runner made sure of a final spot by claiming the top position, as only the winner of each heat and the five best times were accepted into the title race. The result was also a new facility record for St Hillaire before it was broken in the other heat.
The young Tobagonian runner, who only recently shattered a 25-year old school record in a blistering 45.64, ran out of lane eight in his heat but was hardly bothered. He finished ahead of Christopher Bailey of the University of Tennessee who returned a time of 45.51 and Jackson Junkins of the South Carolina University in 46.64.
Both Bailey and Junkins failed to secure places in the final, however, alongside Keldrick Edwards (47.57), St Hillaire’s schoolmate Jacob Smith (48.04), Kunle Fasasi (48.13) and Gabriel Serrano of Alabama State University48.13 seconds.
St Hillaire also recently ran the men’s 200m event at the South Carolina Invitational indoor meet, in the United States, producing a time of 20.88 to win section four. At that time, he was the fourth fastest overall in the 35-man field clocking his second fastest indoors time.
Joshua St Clair also competed in the 400m but did not advance to the final after placing 16th overall with a time of 47.25. The University of Alabama junior placed fourth in heat two in the one-lap event.
On Friday, T&T multi-sport athlete Tyra Gittens of Texas A&M shattered her own women’s heptathlon record by amassing a total of 6,418 points in the seven-discipline event to secure gold ahead of silver medallist Georgia freshman Anna Hall (6,117) and fellow senior Asya Reynolds (5,922), who bagged bronze.
With the results, Gittens also established national records in both the long jump and high jump events. In the long jump, the 22-year-old set a new national record of 6.96, erasing Rhonda Watkins’ previous record of 6.82m, achieved in 2007 and in the high jump she broke the national record of 1.93m which was held by Natasha Alleyne (1995).
T&T’s Akanni Hislop of Louisiana State University also featured on the track at the Championships, seeking to complete the men’s sprint double but it did not pan out as he had hoped. He was unable to progress out of the preliminary round in either events.
In the 100m, the LSU senior placed fifth in heat three to finish 17th with a time of 10.59 (0.8) on Friday. This after, he clocked 21.06 (1.8) to place 15th in the 200m, the day before.
Cherisse Murray was the lone T&T athlete competing on the field. The University of Alabama senior also just missed out on a podium finish placing fourth in the women’s shot put with her best throw measuring 16.59m.
Murray opened with a 15.44-throw to be in seventh spot in the first round. She followed up a mark 15.91m to move into fifth place and went one spot higher with her next attempt of 16.35 but dropped back into fifth place with her 16.39-throw in the fourth round.
The local field athlete’s best effort came in the fifth round to see her return to fourth place. Murray was hoping for huge throw in the sixth and final round but reached a mere 16.19m and remained in fourth spot.