MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico – While lining up in her first competition in more than a month since the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Lady Tiger junior Semoy Hackett captured the gold medal in the women’s 100-meter dash during Friday’s opening day of competition at the 23rd Central American & Caribbean Senior Championships being held at the La Pedrera.
Hackett, a native of Trinidad & Tobago, crossed the finish line in 11.27 seconds during Friday’s final race to take home the gold medal ahead of Jamaica’s Jura Levy (11.36) and Simone Facey (11.39).
Hackett earned her spot in the final after running the fastest time of the preliminary round with her time of 11.48 that was run into a strong headwind of 1.4 meters per second in the second of three heats.
She will have an opportunity to take home a second gold medal from this year’s CAC Championships this weekend as she lines up in the 4×100-meter relay on Saturday night. Hackett was a four-time All-America performer in her first season as a Lady Tiger in 2011, which includes an NCAA title in the 4×100 relay as she ran the second leg on the team that ran the eighth-fastest time in NCAA history at 42.64.
LSU’s Jamaican 400-meter champion Riker Hylton came up short in his bid to add a CAC Championship medal to his impressive resume for 2011 as he finished in fourth place in the one-lap final with his time of 46.02. Trinidadian Renny Quow took home the gold medal in 45.44, while Bahamian Ramon Miller came up with the silver medal in 45.56 and Dominican Erison Hurtault won the bronze medal in 45.93.
Hylton qualified for Friday’s 400-meter dash final by running the sixth-fastest time of the prelim round at 47.10 to take second place in the third qualifying heat. He will return to the track in Sunday’s finale while leading Jamaica’s 4×400-meter relay team to a spot on the medal podium.
Tiger alum Claston Bernard also finds himself in medal contention after the first day of competition in the men’s decathlon as he totaled 3,791 points through the first five events.
Bernard, the 2002 NCAA decathlon champion, scored 765 points after running a time of 11.44 in the 100-meter dash, 814 points with a mark of 22-11 ¾ in the long jump, 673 points throwing 42-11 ½ for the shot put, 859 points jumping 6-9 in the high jump and 680 points running 53.03 in the 400 meters. He trails the 3,908 points by Venezuela’s Geormi Jamamillo and 3,898 points by Puerto Rico’s Marcos Sanchez.