Oakley shows her one-lap form at NCAAs

FORMER CLARENDON College quarter-miler, Dejanea Oakley, was at her best on Saturday — the final day of competition for women — at the NCAA Division One Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon, posting a lifetime best 49.65 seconds for the runner-up spot while competing for the University of Georgia in the finals of the women’s 400 metres.

Oakley, a fifth-place finisher for Jamaica in the event at the 2022 World Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, and who previously competed for the University of Texas, has been in exceptional form since transferring to her new school at the start of the 2024–25 season, showing big improvement over the one-lap event. Her time is the best by a Jamaican female this season, surpassing Nickisha Pryce’s 50.05. She now sits at number seven in the world this season.

She first produced a personal best of 50.18 in the semi-finals two days earlier before bettering that with her first sub-50 second clocking, finishing behind teammate and United States Olympian Alliyah Butler, who won in a personal best and collegiate-leading time of 49.26.

Both then teamed up in the 4x400-metre relay, where Oakley ran the opening leg on the way to winning in a collegiate-leading time of 3:23.62, as Georgia’s 73 points allowing them to walk away with the team title.

Oakley’s second-place finish was the best by a Jamaican woman at the championships this weekend.

Shantae Foreman of Clemson University had the next best performance as a Jamaican — the former Excelsior and St Jago High School jumper fourth in the women’s triple jump with a distance of 13.72 metres.

Oneika Wilson also of Clemson University, finished fifth in the women’s 100-metre hurdles in 13.02 seconds. There was big disappointment, however, for former St. Elizabeth Technical High School sprint hurdler, Habibah Harris.

The University of Florida freshman was the collegiate leader in the event and favourite, but had to pull out of the event due to a hamstring injury suffered earlier while competing in the 4x100-metre relay for her team.

Other Jamaicans competing on the day included Adrienne Adams of Auburn University, sixth in the women’s discus with 60.55 metres; Macheada Linton of Louisiana State University, 19th in the triple jump with 12.67 metres; and Jamora Alves of St. John’s University, 19th in the discus with 52.60.

One of the highlights of the championships on the final day came in the women’s 400-metre hurdles, as Savannah Sutherland of Michigan State University wrote her name in the record books.

Sutherland, who was seventh in the event representing Canada at the Paris Olympics, won in a personal best and new collegiate record of 52.46 seconds, erasing the old mark of 52.75 held by Sydney McLaughlin, who had represented the University of Kentucky. Her winning time is the third-fastest in the world this year.