KINGSTON, Jamaica – 2008 NCAA champion Nickiesha Wilson added her name to the list of LSU Track & Field alumni making the trip to London for the 2012 Olympic Games on Friday night as she won the bronze medal in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the 2012 Jamaican National Senior Championships being held this weekend at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Not only did Wilson claim the necessary top-three finish in the race, but she also achieved the elusive “A” qualifying standard for the Olympic Games with a seasonal best of 55.50 seconds in the final.
Wilson took home the bronze medal in Friday’s final behind the reigning Olympic gold medalist Melaine Walker (54.77) and Kaliese Spencer (55.04) as each earned their spot on Jamaica’s Olympic team.
Wilson, who trains with the famed Racers Track Club in Jamaica, smashed her seasonal-best run of 56.29 entering the race while hitting the Olympic “A” qualifying standard of 55.50 with her effort. She qualified for the 400-meter hurdles final after opening with a run of 56.95 in the semifinal round on Thursday.
With her performance, Wilson will now represent Jamaica at the Olympic Games for the second time as a professional after earning a ninth-place finish in her debut at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She has a wealth of international experience as one of the world’s leading 400-meter hurdles while also making an appearance in each of the last three World Championships in 2007, 2009 and 2011.
Wilson is LSU’s school-record holder in the event with a lifetime best of 53.97 that was set in the finals at the 2007 IAAF World Championships while claiming a fourth-place finish. She was then crowned NCAA champion in the event as a junior in 2008 before embarking on her professional career.
Fellow Lady Tiger alum Samantha Henry-Robinson also put herself in a position to represent Jamaica this summer at the 2012 Olympic Games with a personal-best performance in the 100-meter dash.
Henry-Robinson, who was a 15-time All-American during her four seasons in Baton Rouge from 2007-10 as a former teammate of Wilson, made a strong case to join Jamaica’s 4×100-meter relay pool after taking sixth place in the final of the women’s 100-meter dash with a PR of 11.11 (+0.6). That broke her previous best of 11.14 set in the NCAA quarterfinals during her junior season at LSU in 2009.
Reigning Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce took the Jamaican title with a national record and a world-leading time of 10.70 for 2012, followed by silver medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown (10.82) and bronze medalist Kerron Stewart (10.94). Sherone Simpson took fourth in 11.01 and Schillonie Calvert ran 11.05 for fifth place ahead of Henry-Robinson in sixth place in the final.
Henry-Robinson will know for sure if she has been selected for her country’s relay pool when the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association announces its Olympic team on Monday.
One former Tiger national champion saw his Olympic dream come to an end during Friday’s action at the National Stadium as Isa Phillips ran 50.14 for fifth place in the men’s 400-meter hurdles behind Leford Greene (48.88), Josef Robertson (49.53), Roxroy Cato (49.65) and Danny McFarlane (49.69).
Like Wilson, Phillips earned a ninth-place finish in the event in his Olympics debut for Jamaica in 2008 at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium in Beijing. And despite also competing in each of the last three World Championships, Phillips came up short in his pursuit of a second Olympics berth for his country.