SYDNEY, Australia — NCAA triple jump champion Keisha Spencer’s remarkable season came to an end on Friday when the six-time All-American finished 10th in her preliminary flight of the triple jump at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Spencer, competing for Jamaica, came up with a jump of 44 feet 3 inches, but what have needed to jump nearly 46 feet in order to advance to Sunday’s final.
Spencer’s departure from Sydney concludes a year in which she wrapped up her LSU career by winning the NCAA and SEC Indoor and Outdoor triple jump titles, while also winning the Honda Award as the top female collegiate track and field athlete. It was Spencer’s winning jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that provided the margin of victory for the Lady Tigers in the final event of the competition.
Valma Bass, a key component of the Lady Tigers’ 2000 NCAA Outdoor champion track and field team, advanced to the second round of the 100-meter dash where she was then eliminated at the Olympic games in Sydney, Australia.
Bass, competing for St. Kitts/Nevis, opened the 100-meter dash with a third place in her first round heat, clocking a time of 11.45 seconds. She went on to finish seventh in her second round heat in a time of 11.60.
Friday’s departure in the 100-meter dash if far from the end for Bass, who still has the 200-meter dash and 4×100-meter relay to compete in.
The 100-meter dash got underway as expected without NCAA runner-up Peta-Gaye Dowdie of LSU. Dowdie was replaced at the last minute by Jamaican governing bodies with six-time Olympian Merlene Ottey, despite having beaten Ottey at each of the past two Jamaican National Championships.
Jamaican officials have yet to determine Dowdie’s status for the 4×100-meter relay, although the 19-time All-American has indicated that she would still like to run. Dowdie anchored the Jamaican’s to a Bronze medal in the 4×100-meter relay at the World Championships in Seville, Spain last summer.