SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Former members of the LSU Track & Field program picked up five medals at the 2015 North American, Central American & Caribbean Senior Championships this past weekend after Jamaica’s Jonique Day and Trinidad & Tobago’s Jamaal James climbed the medal podium in Sunday’s finale at Costa Rica’s National Stadium.
Day ran the third leg on Jamaica’s 4×400-meter relay team that won the silver medal in the women’s final after James had already won the bronze medal in the men’s 800-meter final in Sunday’s finale.
James, a two-time SEC Champion, three-time All-American and six-time All-SEC middle distance runner with the Tigers from 2007-10, ran his fastest 800-meter race in two seasons on Sunday afternoon when he ended the men’s final in third position with a seasonal-best time of 1 minute, 47.07 seconds to win his first international medal for his home nation of Trinidad & Tobago.
After qualifying fourth overall in Friday’s preliminary round with a time of 1:50.69, James edged Jamaica’s fourth-place finisher Ricardo Cunningham (1:47.14) with a lean at the line to win the bronze medal at this year’s NACAC Senior Championships. Runners from the United States swept the top two spots in the race as Ryan Martin struck gold in 1:45.79 and Clayton Murphy scored the silver in 1:46.38.
Rounding out the field in the men’s 800-meter final were Canada’s Corey Bellemore (1:47.68), Barbados’ Anthonio Mascoll (1:48.18), Bermuda’s Aaron Evans (1:49.07) and Bahamas’ Lester Taylor (1:53.31).
Day then followed by running the third leg on Jamaica’s 4×400-meter relay that finished comfortably in second place in the women’s relay final, as she teamed with compatriots Sonikqua Walker, Verone Chambers and Bobby-Gaye Wilkins-Gooden for a silver-medal-winning time of 3 minutes, 28.65 seconds. The United States cruised to an easy victory in the race by more than three seconds with a winning time of 3:25.39.
Bahamas bagged the bronze medal in the women’s relay final with a time of 3:31.80, followed by Canada (3:33.65) in fourth place, Trinidad & Tobago (3:33.85) in fifth place and Costa Rica (3:41.40) in sixth place.
With James and Day climbing the medal podium in Sunday’s finale at the NACAC Senior Championships, LSU Track & Field alums walked away with five medals on the weekend as former Lady Tiger Lynnika Pitts soared to the bronze medal in the women’s triple jump on Friday and Lolo Jones and Tenaya Jones swept gold and silver medals in the women’s 100-meter hurdles on Saturday all competing for the United States.