Kiara Grant ran 11.11 seconds (1.5m/s) yesterday to set a new Jamaican national junior record in the women’s 100m at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) outdoors championship at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, lowering the 11.12 seconds set 19 years ago by Veronica Campbell Brown.

The time is also the fastest by a junior sprinter this year, moving Grant from second to first ahead of compatriot, Hydel High’s Ashanti Moore (11.17 seconds), as five Jamaicans occupy the top spots on the IAAF performance charts.

Edwin Allen High’s Kevona Davis ran 11.19 seconds for third, followed by Florida-based Briana Williams (11.25 seconds) and 14 year-old Tina Clayton’s age group World-best 11.27 seconds.

Grant, the former Convent of Mercy Alpha Academy student who is now a sophomore at Norfolk State University, was second in the 100m final yesterday behind senior Kayla Whyte of North Carolina A&T, who ran a World-leading 10.96 seconds.

Whyte copped the double after winning the 200m hours later, while Grant was seventh in 24.09 seconds (-1.0m/s).

Grant entered the three-day MEAC championships with a best of 11.18 seconds (1.9m/s), which at the time was second-best in the world for a junior and was set a week earlier at a meet held at the University of Virginia.

She got off to a fast start and led up to midway the race, until Whyte took over and crossed the finishing line first.

The Jamaican had led after Friday’s preliminaries with a wind-aided 11.07 seconds, (3.4m/s) ahead of Whyte’s 11.16 (0.6m/s).

Campbell Brown’s record set in 2000 was accomplished at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Santiago, Chile, when she won the sprint double.

Also at the MEAC championships yesterday, former Cornwall College jumper Kobe-Jordan Rhooms, representing Morgan State University, was second in the men’s triple jump with a best mark of 14.99m (1.3m/s).

– Paul Reid