CHRISTOPHER Young of Barton County Community College retained his men’s shot put title after throwing a personal best 18.76m on Friday’s second day of the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) outdoor track and field championships being held at Brown Stadium at University of Louisiana Monroe.

It was Young’s second title in as many days after he won the men’s hammer throw on Thursday’s opening day with another lifetime best of 56.61m.

The first positions in the men’s shot put and seven of the top 10 were occupied by Jamaicans as there were also silver-medal performances in both high jumps.

Young, who is to contest both the javelin and discus throws on Saturday’s final day, had just two legal throws on Friday. He fouled his first two attempts, surpassed his previous personal best of 18.67m, and was just short of the Barton County school record 18.79m.

Young’s former Edwin Allen teammate Trevor Gunzell of Coffeyville Community College was second with a season’s best 18.50m. Denzs Simmonds of Iowa Western was third with a lifetime best 17.92m while Shamar Reid of South Plains Junior College was fourth with 17.31m and Yekeni Bowen of Iowa Western was fifth with 17.31m.

Ricardo Hayles of Barton was eighth with a personal best 16.97m, and Christopher Brown of Hutchinson Community College threw 15.52m for 10th place.

Corey Ottey of Cloud County Community College was second in the men’s high jump with a personal best 2.12m, up from 2.10m, and Shackla Henry of Cloud County Community College took second in the women’s high jump with 1.73m.

Calleisha Chance of Iowa Western was fifth in the women’s high jump with a season’s best 1.68m, while Cordaelia Williams of Cloud County cleared 1.63m for seventh place.

Bovel McPherson of New Mexico Junior College ran a personal best 46.29 seconds to qualify for the men’s 400m final. He was joined by Gregory Prince of South Plains who clocked 46.89.

Tanique Taylor of Iowa Western Community College ran a personal best 13.98 (1.4m/s) to advance to the 100m hurdles final; Kay-Lagay Clarke of Barton County, 14.00; and Chenessa Davis of Cloud County (14.12) also advanced.

Tyrice Taylor of Indian Hills, the men’s 800m leader, advanced to the final after running 1:51.79; Dishaun Lamb of South Plains Junior College grabbed the final qualifying spot in the 110m hurdles after he ran 14.23 seconds (1.8m/s); and Safhia Hinds of South Plains ran a personal best 1:00.19 on Thursday to lead the qualifiers in the women’s 400m hurdles.