GAINESVILLE, Fla. (April 18) — St. Lucian sprinter Julien Alfred and the Bahamas’ Terrence Jones stood out among the collegiate sprinters at the 2023 Tom Jones Memorial Invitational, transferring their indoor form to the outdoor campaign with impressive performances in the women’s and men’s 100-meter dashes over the weekend.
Texas senior Alfred completed the sprint double in a wind-aided 10.72 seconds (+2.4 m/s) to win the collegiate women’s 100-meter, setting the all-time collegiate best time in any conditions. On Friday, the three-time NCAA sprint champion set a world-leading St. Lucian national record and personal best time of 21.91 seconds to win the 200-meter dash.
Several other athletes finished under 11 seconds in the women’s 100-meter with the aide of a 2.4 m/s wind on Saturday, including Rosemary Chukwuma of Texas Tech at 10.85, McKenzie Long of Ole Miss at 10.92, Kevona Davis of Texas at 10.93, Talitha Diggs of Florida at 10.96, and Ezinne Abba of Texas at 10.99.
Arkansas’ Ackera Nugent, who decided to open 100m instead of the sprint hurdles at the meet, clocked the fastest wind-legal time on the day with 11.12 seconds, recorded at +0.8 m/s wind reading. The Jamaican was just off her personal best of 11.09 seconds.
In the men’s collegiate 100-meter race, Terrence Jones of Texas Tech secured a world lead of 9.91 (+1.0 m/s) to claim the top spot, while teammate Courtney Lindsey finished second with a time of 10.04. Amir Willis of Florida State and PJ Austin of Florida ran 10.08 secs and 10.09 secs, respectively, finishing third and fourth.
Favour Ashe of Auburn suffered an unfortunate injury in the same heat as Terrence Jones, while Da’Marcus Fleming of LSU false-started in that race.
