Levy breaks school mark over 200

Hall clocks world-leading Indoor time over half-lap

P Burrowes

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

JURA Levy of Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) sped to a season-best 23.68 seconds to break her school's 200 metres indoor record at the Nebraska Tune-Up Indoor Meet held at the Nebraska-Devaney Center in Lincoln weekend.

Second was teammate and compatriot Verone Chambers, who ran a personal best 23.73 seconds, with Stacy Warrior, also of Oklahoma Baptist, third in 24.78.

The 21-year-old Levy bettered Chambers previous OBU record of 24.03 set last year.

A World Championship 4x100m relay silver medallist, Levy also won the 60 metres, clocking 7.45 seconds to finish ahead of Slovene Maja Mihalinec (unattached) and American Juanita Hollands of Bacone College, 7.83.

A National Youth and Junior champion who was surprisingly third in the 100m at the National Senior Championships last year, Levy dominated the sprints last year while representing South Plains College in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in 2011.

Now at OBU, she has the leading times in both 100 and 200 metres in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and is a favourite for the National Indoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio from March 1-3 at SPIRE Institute.

Meanwhile, 29-year-old Patricia Hall, a Central American and Caribbean Championships (CAC) silver medallist, seems to be getting better with age after clocking a personal best and world-leading 22.88 seconds to win the 200 metres at the Val d'Oise indoor meet in Eaubonne, France.

Russian Kseniya Vdovina ran a season-best 23.72 seconds to place second while Ukrainian Hrystyna Stuy timed 24.21 for third.

Hall, who ran the third leg to ensure that Jamaica won heat three of the women's 4x400m relay at last year's World Championships in Daegu, is hoping to be a first-time Olympian this summer in London.

Eighteen women, beginning with Una Morris in 1964, have represented Jamaica at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, with only Lorraine Graham and Shericka Williams being the only medallists with silvers in 2000 and 2008 respectively.

For the women's 4x400m relay, 33 Jamaicans have participated and only in the last three Olympic Games have they won medals. Ruth Williams-Simpson, Una Morris, Rosie Allwood, and Yvonne Saunders planted that mile relay Olympic seed at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 and 28 years later, Sandie Richards, Catherine Scott-Pomales, Deon Hemmings, Lorraine Graham, Novlene Williams, Michelle Burgher, Nadia Davy, Shericka Williams, Shereefa Lloyd, and Rosemarie Whyte delivered a silver and two bronze medals.