10 Jamaican men seek collegiate glory in Eugene

TEN Jamaicans will be seeking collegiate glory when the second and final day of competition for male athletes at the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships comes to an end at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon today.

   Tokyo World Championships representative Demario Prince  of Baylor, along with 800m runners Tyrice Taylor and Rivaldo Marshall,  were the only Jamaicans to advance to today's finals following semi-final action on Wednesday.

Prince will contest the men's 110m hurdles final at 7:42 p.m. Jamaica time, after finishing second in his heat and third overall, behind Ja'Kobe Tharp of Auburn, who won in a world record  12.75 seconds, well  below the previous mark of 12.80 set  by fellow American Aries Merritt  in 2012.

Two other Jamaicans failed to advance from their 110m hurdles semi-final heats. Jerome Campbell of Arkansas ended fourth in 13.38 while Sharvis Simmonds of Clemson was eighth in 13.67.

Teammates Taylor and Marshall of Arkansas will be hoping for big points for their team when they contest the 800m final at 8:14 p.m. Jamaica time. Marshall won his heat in 1:45.02 to be the fastest qualifier heading into the final while Taylor  won his heat in 1:46.98.

The other Jamaican involved in track action, Kimar Farquharson of Texas A&M, failed to advance to the final of the men's 400m after ending fourth in his heat and 11th overall. He clocked 45.62.

In field event finals on Wednesday, University of Oregon's Kobe Lawrence had the best finish. Lawrence ended fourth in the shot put with a season's best heave of 19.87m while Shaiquan Dunn of the University of Texas ended 20th overall with 17.99m. Jordan Turner of Louisiana State University (LSU), competing in the long jump, was ninth overall with 7.64m.

Jamaica will be well represented in the field event finals today, with six men down to compete in the discus and one in the triple jump.

The discus final will get under way at 4:15 p.m., where Chad Hendricks of LSU and Christopher Young of Alabama will throw out of Flight One, while defending champion Ralford Mullings of Oklahoma will spearhead four Jamaicans in Flight Two. He will be joined by Racquil Broderick of the University of South Carolina, Trevor Gunzell of Alabama, and Shamar Reid of Florida State.

Triple jumper Apollos Edwards of Kansas State will be the other Jamaican in field event duty today, as he will compete out of Flight Two in the triple jump final at 7:10 p.m. Jamaica time.