Welcome shines coming in, Maloney shines going out
Triple Jumper, Mikeisha Welcome continued her dominant start to her college career on the weekend, when she competed at the Desert Heat Classic at the University of Arizona. Mikeisha, in her freshman year at the University of Oklahoma, jumped a national record 13.72m in Tucson, to win the event.
It was her second consecutive meet where she jumped further than the national record. She was 2nd at the John Jacobs Invitational on April 24th, with a distance of 13.60m. This was further than the 13.57m record which she set in her first outdoor competition for this season, however the wind reading was just outside the legal limit.
Mikeisha came to national prominence in 2019, when she made her debut representation for St. Vincent & the Grenadines at the Pan American Under-20 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica. She placed 3rd in the event, and set a National U20 Women’s record of 13.15m.
Also competing this weekend was middle distance runner Shafiqua Maloney. The University of Arkansas senior journeyed to Baton Rouge with her Razorback team, to take part in the LSU Invitational. She claimed victory in the 800m, in a time of 2:04.69
Shafiqua has been in exemplary form for her final season, having broken the national women’s indoor 800m record twice, and seeing podium finishes multiple time, including 3rd place at the NCAA National Championships. She has also broken the national women’s outdoor 800m record this season, and has her eyes set on the 400m record of 51.23, held by Kineke Alexander-Stay. She came tremendously close to doing so, when she ran 51.72 at the Texas Relays. A national record in this event would assure Shafiqua Olympic qualification, as the required time to beat is 51.35
She will be bringing her collegiate career to a close over the next month, when she runs at the Arkansas Twilight Meet this Friday, the SEC Championships from May 13-15, the NCAA National Outdoor Preliminaries May 27-29, and the NCAA Championships on June 9-12.
Shafiqua is set to graduate on Friday, having completed her degree in Geography (Remote Sensing and Cartology).
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