Jamaicans begin NCAA title bids today
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Thirty-two Jamaican collegiate athletes will be in action in individual events over the next four days, starting today, as the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division 1 Track and Field Outdoor Championships get under way at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The men will be in action on today's opening day with 18 Jamaicans qualified. Eleven of those are down to compete on the first day.
Three Jamaicans will be hoping to book their final berths in the men's 110-metre hurdles when semi-final action gets under way today at 9:08 p.m. Jamaican time. All three Jamaicans — Sharvis Simmonds of Clemson, Demario Prince of Baylor, and Jerome Campbell of the University of Alabama - are drawn in Heat 2I of the semi-finals. The top two from each semi-final and the two fastest losers will advance to Friday's final.
Prince is the fastest of the Jamaican qualifiers from the Regional meet with 13.14 seconds and will run out of Lane Six. Campbell, with his 13.33-second clocking, will come out of Lane Eight, while Simmonds, who advanced with 13.37, will run out of lane two.
Three other Jamaicans will be involved in track action as Kimar Farquharson of Texas A&M University will contest the 400 metres while teammates Tyrice Taylor and Rivaldo Marshall of the University of Arkansas will do duties in the 800 metres.
Farquharson, who advanced from the Regionals with 45.18 seconds, will contest semi-final 2 of the men's 400m and will run out of Lane Eight. Taylor, the second-fastest qualifier from the Regionals with 1:44.35, will come out of Lane Five in semi-final I, while Marshall, who advanced with 1:45.15, is drawn in Lane Six in semi-final 3.
Jamar Ferguson of Louisiana and Brandon Falconer of Mount St Mary's will compete in the javelin final at 9:15 p.m.
Jordan Turner of Louisiana State University will be in Flight Two of the men's long jump at 9:40 p.m., where he qualified as the fifth best with 8.08 metres.
Shaiquan Dunn of the University of Texas, with a season's best of 18.81m, and Kobe Lawrence of the University of Oregon, with a season's best of 19.74m, will be the final set of Jamaicans in the field when they contest the men's shot put final at 10:10 p.m.