JAMAICANS Alain Bailey and Kimberly Williams snapped up titles in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Indoor Championships in Blacksburg, Virginia, on the weekend.

Bailey, a Kingston College past student, upped his personal best in the indoor long jump to 8.17 metres to clinch the SEC Indoor title, edging fellow University of Arkansas teammate, compatriot, and fellow KC past student 19-year-old Tarik Batchelor, who took the silver also in a personal best 8.09 metres while American Christian Taylor of the University of Florida placed third in a season best 7.79 metres.

The 22-year-old Bailey, a senior at Arkansas, said on the Razorbacks website: “I knew going into the meet I had to get 10 points for my team. Our team is very excited right now and we are very optimistic… It has been a good four years for me at Arkansas. I have really enjoyed it. I will use my finish here as momentum going into the NCAAs,” he added.

Not for the first time, Bailey best jump came on the final attempt. He now leads the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) long jump this season, becoming number four on the Arkansas all-time, and number five in the world at press time.

Arkansas assistant coach Travis Geopfert noted: “For both Alain and Tarik to PR and take those points on their final jumps, that’s an unbelievable effort. They’ve had great practices leading up to these championships and they really hit their marks”.

Twenty-one-year-old Williams, meanwhile, has maintained her supreme dominance in the triple jump by smashing meet and stadium records.

The Vere Technical past student soared to a personal best 14.23 metres to clinch the ACC title ahead of Portuguese Patricia Mamona of the University of Clemson, who measured 13.40m and Jamaica’s Deandra Doyley of the University of Miami placing third in a personal best 12.91 seconds.

Williams broke the ACC record of 13.62m set in 1999 by Nicole and the Rector Field House stadium record of 14.22m established in 2001 by Tiombe Hurd. Williams holds the seventh best jump in the world this year.

In the long jump, Williams took the silver in a personal best 6.51m, as American April Sinkler won with 6.55m, with Jamaican Doyley third in a personal best 6.45m.

In the Big12 Indoor Conference in Ames, Iowa, Nicholas Gordon, a Calabar past student at the University of Nebraska, took the silver in the long jump in a season-best 7.87m as American Bryce Lamb of Texas Tech won with 8.14m. American Marquise Goodwin of the University of Texas was third leaping a personal best 7.85m.