Caribbean Sports – Young Caribbean Athletes In NCAA Finals

News Americas, MIAMI, FL, Fri. June 8, 2018: Several young Caribbean born athletes are through to the finals of at least two competitions at the NCAA Division 1 Championships at the Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Jamaica’s Andre Ewers leads a strong Caribbean contingent into today’s final of the men’s 100-m at the Division 1 Championships. Ewers, of Florida State, was fastest into the finals having posted a time of 10.00 to win Heat 2 ahead of Cravon Gillespie of Oregon 10.02.

Heat 3 actually had three four qualifiers for the final as Antigua and Barbuda’s Cejhae Greene, a senior of University of Georgia, was among the fastest losers, qualifying with a time of 10.05s four-thousandths of a second ahead of Jamaica’s Auburn sophomore Raheem Chambers, who also advanced to the final.

Also through to the final is Mario Burke of Barbados of the University of Houston, who clocked 10.10s to win the second semi-final heat along with his teammates Cameron Burrell (10.07) and Elijah Hall (10.10).

McKinley West of Southern Mississippi (10.10) also made it through to the final set for 8:22 p.m. Jamaica time (9:22 ECT).

Meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda’s Rai Benjamin and Jamaica’s Kemar Mowatt advanced to the finals of the men’s 400m hurdles at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships that began Wednesday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Benjamin, a junior at the University of Southern California, won the first of the semi-final heats in 49.66s. Jacob Smith of Northern Iowa (50.85), who was second in the heat, also qualified for the finals set for Friday evening.

Mowatt won semi-final three in 49.98s ahead of Taylor McLaughlin (50.27), who also qualified for the final.

Fastest through to the final was North Carolina’s Kenny Selmon who won the second semi-final heat in 49.27s. David Kendziera (49.54) was second in the heat and also advanced to the final.

Arizona freshman Maksims Sincukovs (50.49s) and Infinite Tucker of Texas A&M 49.84 are also into Friday’s final.