McPherson, Campbell claim athlete of the week awards
Bovel McPherson of New Mexico Junior College and Briana Campbell of Life University in Georgia were on Tuesday named National Athletes of the Week in their respective schools after outstanding performances at United States collegiate track and field meets over the weekend.
McPherson, the former Holmwood Technical runner, was named co-National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) men’s athlete of the week after running a school record and personal best 44.78 seconds to win the men’s 400m at Texas Tech last weekend.
McPherson, the 2019 Pan-American Under-20 bronze medallist, moved to fifth best all-time on the NJCAA outdoor list after winning the event at Texas Tech’s Corky/Crofoot Shootout, the fastest by an NJCAA athlete since 2019.
McPherson, the NJCAA Indoor championships record holder, has been undefeated since March.
Campbell, formerly of St Jago High, broke the National Association of Inter-Collegiate Athletics (NAIA) 100m hurdles record when she clocked 13.05 at Vanderbilt’s Music City Outdoor Challenge, retaking the record she lost to Salieci Myles a week ago.
Campbell, who was just edged by Myles of William Carey at the Southern States Outdoor Championships, took 17 hundredths off the previous 13.22 record at Vanderbilt’s Music City Challenge. It is the third time she has lowered the record set in 2023 by Myles, the former Edwin Allen and Rusea’s High athlete.
Also last week at the Texas Tech Corky/Crofoot Shootout, former Jamaica College athlete Shamar Reid of South Plains College became the latest Jamaica discus thrower to go over the 60.00m. He threw a personal best and school record 61.17m.
Reid, who holds both discus throw and shot put records at South Plains College and leads the NJCAA rankings in both, is the 15th Jamaican man to throw over the distance. He moved into 14th place on the Jamaica list.
Reid was second at the Texas Tech meet, beating his previous best of 59.81 set at the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, in March. He was improving his mark for the third time this year.
Jamaicans occupy the top three spots in the NJCAA men’s discus rankings with former Petersfield High thrower Yekini Bowen (59.65m) of Iowa Western and former Clarendon College thrower Ricardo Hayles (57.71m) of Barton Community College.
Reid, who was also second in the shot put at Texas Tech with 17.07m, has an outdoor personal best 18.06m set at the Texas Relays.
— Paul A Reid
