Shot putters Dunn, Lawrence and long jumper Turner secure NCAA Championships berth

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Shot putters Shaiquan Dunn of the University of Texas and Kobe Lawrence of the University of Oregon, as well as long jumper Jordan Turner of Louisiana State, all booked their tickets to the NCAA National Outdoor Championships after Wednesday’s first day of the regionals.Dunn threw a personal best 18.81m to placed ninth in the shot put, while despite one of his shortest throws of the season, Lawrence, who only managed 18.69m, snatched the final place from the West Regional, which is being held at the University of Arkansas.At the East Regional, which is being staged at the University of Kentucky, Turner jumped 7.91m (-0.9m/s), the third best of the day.Nathan Wade of the University of Louisiana-Monroe just missed advancing as his best mark of 7.53m (-0.8m/s) missed qualifying by a scant four centimetres.Meanwhile, Kimar Farquharson of Texas AM University (TAMU) and Rivaldo Marshall of the University of Arkansas, led the men’s 400m and 800m respectively, after the first round of the West Regional.Farquharson ran a personal best 45.18 seconds to advance to Friday’s second round, while Marshall the SEC Outdoor champion ran 1:46.92 seconds with his teammate Tyrice Taylor, also moving on with 1:47.80 seconds.Demario Prince of Baylor University ran 13.38 second (1.3m/s) to advance to the second round of the 110m hurdles and will be joined by Jerome Campbell of the University of Arkansas 13.55 seconds (1.3m/s) and Daniel Beckford of Northern Colorado 13.84 seconds (1.3m/s).Shaemar Uter of Texas Tech made progress in the men’s 200m after he ran 20.79 seconds (0.3m/s).At the East Regional, Dylan Decambre of Virginia Tech ran a lifetime best 1:46.79 seconds to book his spot in the second round of the men’s 800m; Jasauna Dennis of South Carolina lowered his personal best in the 400m to 45.61 seconds and Javel Fullerton of Southern Missouri ran a season’s best 50.48 seconds to make progress in the men’s 400m hurdles.— Paul A Reid