LEFORD Green, 23, has forced his rivals to sit up and take notice after clocking a personal best 49.46 seconds to win the 400m hurdles at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta last weekend.

Dipping under 50 seconds for the first time, bettering his previous best 50.51 seconds, Green beat Americans Reuben McCoy, 50.57 seconds, and Brent LaRue, 50.95 seconds.

Green also anchored Johnson C Smith University (JCSU) to victory in the 4×400 metres, winning with 3:06.16, ahead of Florida State University, 3:07.76.

In the 100m, also at Georgia Tech, Dexter Lee ran 10.33 seconds for third place, trailing Americans Maurice Mitchell and Chris Lawson, who both won in identical 10.27 seconds.

Shereefa Lloyd ran 51.97 seconds to place second in the 400m won by St Kitts and Nevis’ Tiandra Ponteen, 51.80 seconds. Canadian Carline Muir was third in 52.25 seconds.

Shermaine Williams, also of JCSU, placed third in the 100m hurdles after clocking 13.16 seconds. Americans finished one-two, Tierra Brown clocking a personal best 12.93 seconds and Loreal Smith timing 13.14 seconds.

Jhanelle McLeod was joint second in the long jump with American April Sinkler, after measuring 6.17 metres, a personal best for Jamaican McLeod. Hyleas Fountain, an American, won with a leap of 6.49 metres.

Kimberly Williams of Florida State was third in the triple jump with 13.46 metres, as Ayanna Alexander of Trinidad won along with American Crystal Manning, both jumping 13.51 metres.

Meanwhile at the Big Ten Conference Outdoor Championships, Andrew Riley, 21, of the University of Illinois took a pair, the 100m and the 100m hurdles, in Bloomington, Indiana.

The Big Ten Indoor champion, Riley, a Calabar High past student, ran 10.54 seconds to win the 100m and 14.18 seconds to clinch the 110m hurdles.

Another Jamaican and St Andrew High School past student, Todea-Kay Willis of the University of Minnesota, won the long jump in a personal best 6.33 metres, beating Purdue’s Leah Eber, 6.16m, and Wisconsin’s Chavon Robinson, 6.09m.