FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Florida State pair of Kimberly Williams and Ngonidzashe Makusha won the men’s and women’s Long Jump titles on the second day of competition at the NCAA Championships on Thursday.
Williams, a Jamaican native, won the women’s event with a leap of 6.54m to beat Karoline Koehler of San Diego State 6.54m and Jamesha Youngblood of Oregon 6.54m.
Trinidadian Rhonda Watkins of UCLA was fourth with 6.53m. Texas-El Paso’s Blessing Okagbare, a bronze medalist for Nigeria in Beijing last year, finished eighth in 6.18m.
Makusha, who earned a late entry to the meet, after failing to automatically qualify during the East Region championships, defended his crown with a final round 8.11m to out jump Stanley Gbagbeke of Middle Tennessee State who led until the final round with his first round effort of 8.00m.
Elsewhere, Ryan Whiting of Arizona State moved up one place from last season to win the men’s Shot Put with a best throw of 20.11m.
Mariam Kevkhishvili of Florida, the bronze medallist from last year won the women’s event with a throw of 17.79m.
