TWENTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD University of Nebraska sophomore Chad Wright made history on Wednesday when he became the first Jamaican to win the discus event at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Wright triumphed throwing a personal best 62.79 metres at the Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Calabar past student had a previous best of 62.18m achieved last month. Improving with every throw, Wright clinched the title on his penultimate fifth effort. The final one was a foul throw.

“(I didn’t know I had won) until they told me the mark,” Wright told the Huskers website.

“I knew it was going to go far because it felt nice leaving my hand, but then the crowd started to go crazy. It felt great, I was so happy, but I knew I had one more throw left so I had to stay focused.

“I believe I paid my respects to Coach Colligan doing this; I think he would be proud,” added Wright, who recorded the 46th best throw in the world this year.

HIs new personal best was the longest in the Division One this year and second all-time in the Husker record books. The Big 10 Outdoor silver medallist noted that the 30-minute warm-up gave him confidence.

“It was mainly because of my warm-ups. My first two warm-ups before the final did not go so well; my last three started to click and then I had two of them over 60 metres.

“I saw (Texas’ Ryan Crowser) made the big throw and took the lead. I threw and then (Oklahoma’s) Luke Bryant came back with a big throw and I knew we had a competition. My technique really came together… like it did in San Diego.”

Mason Finley of Kansas was second with 61.02m, ahead of Oklahoma’s Byrant, 60.94m.

In the women’s 400m hurdles, Danielle Dowie of the University of Texas in Austin will run in today’s final after clocking 57.37 seconds for third in heat two.

The 20-year-old Wolmerian will run in lane one, hoping to run faster than her personal best 56.10 seconds with which she won the Big 12 title last month.