SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Quarter-miler Bovel McPherson exceeded all his expectations in his first time representing a national team, winning two medals and being part of a national j unior r ecord running 4×400-m team at the 20th Pan-American Under-20 Championships that ended at the National Stadium in San Jose, Costa Rica, on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Holmwood Technical runner, who was a surprise second in the Under-20 final at the JAAA National Championships behind Anthony Cox in June, was hoping to get into the final and then “take things from there”.

Instead, he became the surprise of the championships for the Jamaican team, winning a bronze in the 400-m, lowering his personal best twice in one day then running a brilliant leg on the 4×400-m relay team that smashed a 17-year-old record with a new time of 3:00.99 minutes.

“I feel great… coming into my first national meet and going under 46.00 seconds and being part of a national junior record is a great accomplishment for me,” he told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday.

McPherson, who false-started in the semi-finals of the Class One 400m at Champs and was part of the bronze medal-winning 4x400m team, said he had set his expectations at a moderate level.

“I was expecting just to make it to the final and see what I could do, but I exceeded my own expectations,” he said.

After running a then personal best of 46.28 seconds to edge Jeremy Farr and Evaldo Whitehorne in the Under-20 final at trials, McPherson showed he was ready with 46.16 seconds for second place in his first round heat on Friday morning at the Pan-American Under-20 Championships.

Later in the day, in cool conditions, he then chopped off almost two hundredth of a second with a 45.97-second clocking in the final, racing past his own teammate Cox, a medal favourite, to get the bronze behind American Justin Robinson and Canadian Myles Misener-Daley, the latter a finalist at the IAAF World Under-20 in Finland last year.

Running the third leg in the final of the 4x400m on Sunday, he took the baton from Farr in third place, just behind Brasil’s Lucas Conceicao, and showing great tactical awareness, he backed off ever so slightly on the backstretch before blowing past the South American to hand over to Cox on the anchor leg.

McPherson, who had a hand-timed spilt of 44.8 seconds, said his achievements in Costa Rica have served to boost his confidence.

“I am more motivated for next year already and I am just hoping that I will continue to improve my times,” he beamed.