AFTER dreaming of one day running sub-50 seconds in the 400m, Jamaica’s Dejanea Oakley of the University of Georgia even managed to completely skip the 49.00 seconds threshold after she ran a world-leading 48.92 seconds on Saturday to win the women’s 400m at the South-Eastern Conference (SEC) Outdoor championships at Auburn University in South Carolina.

The former Clarendon College ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) standout was understandably at a loss for words after etching her name among the very best as she piled up a handful of accomplishments after her one-lap run.

“I can’t even put into words to explain the feeling of running 48 seconds,” she said afterwards. “It was like everything I hoped it would be, and more.”

Oakley said all season long she had been consistently running 50.5 seconds, and said she longed to run faster.

“I was just thinking that I just wanted to touch 49.00 seconds to see where I’m at, to see how it feels, and then to just skip the entire 49.00 seconds, going from 50.1 straight to 48.9? I’m just like, mind blown. Like there’s no words to explain this feeling right now.”

Her time was the 16th-fastest ever for a female over the quarter-mile as she battered her previous personal best of 49.65 seconds set last year; broke the Georgia programme record 49.26 seconds set by her training partner Aaliyah Butler – also last year – and also now has the fastest time run by a college athlete all year.

It was also the second fastest in NCAA history, a meet record, and took her to second on the all-time Jamaican list behind Nickisha Pryce’s national record of 48.57 seconds.

Oakley, who was second at the SEC last year behind Butler before winning at the NCAA Nationals held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon, came from behind to win the event.

Kaylyn Brown of the University of Arkansas led off the final curve but Oakley kept her cool and gradually reeled her in before passing her with about 30 metres to go, running away from the field to secure the win.

While she admitted the performance had given her confidence a massive boost, she feels there are some things she needs to work on before she can run even faster.

“Not to sound too cocky right now but [my confidence] is over the skies right now,” she said adding that she was reaping the rewards of working hard with a strong group of 400m runners in Athens, Georgia.

If she is to run faster Oakley said she has to improve the first half of the race.

“I’m pretty sure, even with the 48 seconds, my coach is still going to tell me ‘Dee, you did not run that first 200,’ and I would agree with him.”

Oakley was one of several Jamaicans who tasted success at several conference championships over the weekend as Gabrielle Matthews of the University of Florida became the ninth Jamaican women to run under 11 seconds for the 100m after she clocked a personal best and school record 10.97 seconds (0.5m/s) to win the women’s 100m at the SEC Championships.

Matthews led after the first round on Friday and lowered her previous best of 11.11 seconds set six weeks ago.

Ralford Mullings of the University of Oklahoma won the men’s discus throw with 65.10m after he finished seventh last year, with three Jamaicans filling the top three places.

Shenese Walker of Florida State University (FSU) successfully defended her women’s sprint double as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Outdoors Championships came to an end at University of Louisville in Kentucky on Saturday.

Walker clocked 11.07 seconds to win the 100m and then returned to win the 200m with 22.65 seconds, while Clemson University’s Briana Campbell was eighth with 23.53 seconds.

Clemson University’s Shantae Foreman also defended her women’s triple jump title with 13.37m (-0.1m/s) and added to the indoor gold she won in March.

Shamar Reid of FSU threw a personal best 65.87m to win the men’s discus throw while Yekini Bowen of Virginia Tech was second with 62.06m, also his personal best.

Racquil Broderick of the University of Southern California (USC) won the men’s discus throw with 62.80m at the Big 10 Outdoor Track and Field Championships that ended at the University of Nebraska on Sunday.

Broderick, who finished ninth at last year’s Big 10 championships, had placed fourth at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Kimola Hinds of the University of Louisiana retained her women’s discus throw title at the Sunbelt Conference Championships held in Mobile, Alabama, throwing 54.77m.

Her teammate Mark Daley ran a personal best 20.62 seconds (0.6m/s) for second place in the men’s 200m, third best in school history.

Daley was also sixth in the 100m final in 10.41 seconds (2.0m/s).

Jazmyn James of the University of Memphis won the women’s shot put at the American Conference on Friday and was second in the discus throw on Saturday with a personal best 54.93m.