Monday, March 11, 2024
By BRENT STUBBS
Chief Sports Editor
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
IT was a double dose of victory for Texas Tech junior Terrence Jones in a match-up against fellow Bahamian Wanya McCoy from Florida at the NCAA Division One Indoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend.
Jones became the first Red Raiders to win back- to-back 60m titles for Texas Tech since 2015-2016 and, with his win in the 200 metres, also became the first to sweep both sprint crowns in six years.
With his performance and joined by fellow Bahamian Antoine Andrews, Texas Tech won their first men’s championships at the track at New Balance in Boston, Massachusetts.
Andrews, a Texas Tech sophomore, didn’t get to any of the finals in the two individual events he competed in.
Men’s 200m
Jones, the Grand Bahama native, was in a class of his own in the pair of sprint events on Saturday, including lowering the facility record in the process in the 200m race.
The record that McCoy shattered in the preliminaries the day before.
In a post-race interview following the one-lap 200m race, Jones said he was thrilled with his performance.
“Right from the start, I got out really aggressive, I drove it out and I finished hard,” Jones said.
“So I think it was one of the best 200m I’ve ran indoors.”
Running in the outside lane in six in the last two sections of the race just ahead of McCoy, Jones went coast-to-coast to finish in a time of 20.23 seconds to erase McCoy’s facility record of 20.23 on Saturday in the preliminaries.
McCoy, in lane five, came off the final curve trailing Jones and he slowed down as he ended up walking across the final line in 25.60.
Not sure if it was a precautionary measure because of an injury or not.
Cheickna Traore, a senior at Penn State and Robert Gregory, a senior at Florida, took the top two spots in 20.30 and 20.37 respectively for second and third place.
On Saturday, McCoy and Jones ran the identical time of 20.23 in the preliminaries, but McCoy was given first place over Jones, who had to settle for second coming out of the preliminaries on Friday in their respective heat victories.
With first place, McCoy held the facility record one day as he erased the previous mark of 20.48 that Issam Asinga of Montverde Academy set last year.
Men’s 60m
In the first match-up, Jones emerged as the champion in the men’s 60 metre dash in a time of 6.54. McCoy ended up fourth in 6.60.
In between them, Kalen Walker, a junior at Iowa, was the runner-up in 6.59 and Don’Dre Swint, a senior at Texas Tech, was third in 6.60.
Jones had the fastest qualifying time of 6.56, followed by McCoy in fourth in 6.60 as they got first and third in the same heat in the preliminaries on Friday.
Andrews didn’t advance after he came across the line in seventh in another heat in 6.64 for 12th place.
Men’s 60m hurdles
Andrews, competing in his speciality, finished 13th in 7.78 for seventh in his heat, but it wasn’t enough to get him out of the preliminaries in the 60m hurdles on Friday.
Miller runner-up in Jamaica
Wendell Miller placed second in the men’s 200m at the GC Foster Classic in Spanish Town, Jamaica, on Saturday.
Miller, competing for the MVP Track Club, ran a sea- son’s best of 20.83 to trail Jamaica’s Demish Gaye, who won in 20.71.
Also at the meet, Ainsworth Ferguson, competing in the men’s long jump, was 25th with (4.77m).
Emanuel Archibald of Guyana won the event with his best of (7.55m).
McCoy, in lane five, came off the final curve trailing Jones and he slowed down as he ended up walking across the final line in 25.60.
Not sure if it was a precautionary measure because of an injury or not.
Cheickna Traore, a senior at Penn State and Robert Gregory, a senior at Florida,
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