High jumper Romaine Beckford sets sights on Commonwealth Games
After two personal best performances in April, former Buff Bay high jumper Romaine Beckford has a clear plan for what he expects for the remainder of the season and has set his sights on a place on the Jamaica team to the Commonwealth Games in August.
Beckford, who is in his first year at the University of South Florida (USF), set a personal best 2.23m on Saturday when he won the College Men’s high jump championships at the 126th Penn Relays.
The mark, which beat the 2.21m that he set at the Tom Jones Memorial meet at the University of Florida, two weeks before, saw him take over the number two spot on the USF all-time charts.
Beckford, who attended South Plains College the previous two years before transferring to USF, had cleared 2.20m and was multiple All-American selectee, winning one national outdoors title and was second in one indoor and another outdoors.
Bad eating habits, he confessed, might have affected his performance.
“Because of the change in eating habits, I had gained a lot of weight in the first two years…when we moved to South Florida, I was put on a meal plan and we are working on getting stronger, getting fitter and things have just taken off from then.”
He was USF’s only representative at the NCAA Division One Indoors nationals this year but he outperformed, placing 15th clearing only 2.10m after winning the American Athletics Conference title with 2.15m.
While he said he enjoyed the experience he said he allowed it to get the better of him. “It was a good experience. I just thought I got into my own head too much and it was too much for me at the moment,” he admitted. “I was overwhelmed, just excited to be there; it was the best of the best in the college track and field world.”
Saturday’s achievement, he said, was another “big step. I can’t even put into words what it means and the feeling that I am experiencing”.
His next step, he said, was to win the AAC outdoors title to be held May 13-15 in Kansas. “I hope to win the outdoor conference title and compete at the best of my ability, to go to Trials in Jamaica and do well enough to make it to the Commonwealth Games.”
