African Games women’s Shot put Champion, Claire Uke dominated her event at the Occidental Invitational held during the weekend (May 7) in Los Angeles in the USA.
The Rice University Senior who is in her final semester, secured her winning throw of 15.83m in her second attempt, bettering her first mark of 15.69m. She made a throw of 15.30m in her third attempt, and was fouled in her final attempt.
Kassie Nagel was 2nd with her single clean throw of 14.37m as she was fouled in subsequent attempts. Ijeoma Ugwunze, a Rice Junior, finished 3rd with a distance of 13.18m.
Uke also competed in the Discus throw but narrowly missed a place on the podium as she finished 4th (45.73m) behind Madison Pachner (49.93m), Monique Griffiths (49.59m) and Sadie Nielsen (47.54m).
Algiers 2007 GOLD medallist in the 100m Hurdles, Toyin Augustus was also in action at the meet, placing 6th in her race with a time of 13.54s. Ginnie Crawford (12.91s), Melia Cox (13.25s) and Melaine Walker (13.39s) finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.
She thereafter competed in the 100m where she finished a distant 24th overall in 12.45s. The women’s 100m was dominated by former World Champion Carmelita Jeter who clocked 11.42s, before finishing 2nd behind Lekeisha Lawson (23.25s) in the 200m with a time of 23.49s.
A James Howell was listed for Nigeria in the men’s 400m; the 29-year old finished 4th with a time of 46.71s. The race was won by Gil Roberts (44.88s) competing for Nike as Troy Pollard and Jesse White followed in 46.00s and 46.22s respectively.
