Goule, Williamses show good form at Clemson Invitational
Published:Sunday | January 16, 2022 | 12:09 AMHubert Lawrence - Sunday Gleaner Writer
NATOYA GOULE and Danielle Williams both produced notable performances on Friday at the Clemson Invitational.
Stepping on the Clemson University track in South Carolina, Goule won the 1000 metres while Williams put forth two solid efforts and left with a personal best.
In a competition that opened her 2022 campaign, Goule won in 2 minutes 41.03 seconds, 9 and a half seconds ahead of her nearest rival. Ranked at number 3 in the world over 800 metres in 2021 by the US journal TRACK AND FIELD NEWS, Goule might well have gone quicker if she had been challenged.
“Honestly, it was just a training run because we actually trained the day before and we’re training this morning, so it was just to get a snapshot of where she is right now in training,” said Goule’s coach Mark Elliot yesterday.
Elliot gave Goule’s run his mark of approval.
“That was pretty good, you know, looking forward to this season,” he said, noting that the long 2021 season put Goule a fortnight behind her usual training schedule.
Short-term goal
She could be in the Serbian capital of Belgrade for the World Indoor Championships in March.
“Our short-term goal is World Indoors as long as it’s still in play and going to happen,” said Elliot.
Williams had opened her season on the same Clemson indoor track the previous week with a fine run over 300 metres. On Friday, she ran Olympic and World 100-metre silver medallist Kendra Harrison to the line, 7.92 to 7.91 seconds, in the heats of the 60-metre hurdles and then set a personal best in the flat race.
She skipped the 60-metre hurdles final but laid down a time of 7.32 seconds in the 60-metre heats. The 2010 Boys and Girls’ Championships class 2 100, 200 and 100 hurdles winner zoomed to 7.29 seconds in the final, placing third to US college athletes Talitha Diggs and Kynnedy Flannel, who shared a clocking of 7.26 with Jamaica’s Kevona Davis in fifth in 7.31 seconds.
The weight throw yielded big marks for Clemson University Jamaicans Daniel Cope and Marie Forbes. In his first meet as a Clemson athlete, Cope bombed the implement 20.99 metres to place second to Denzel Comenentia of Holland, who was far ahead with 23.65 metres. Forbes devastated her personal best of 19.00 metres with a throw taped at 19.75. When the dust settled, Cole, the former Petersfield High School throws standout, had established a new Clemson record, and Forbes, an excellent discus thrower at Vere, had moved up to number 4 on the all-time Clemson performance chart.
Elsewhere, Olympic 4x100 gold medallist Briana Williams opened her 2022 season with a third-place finish over 60 metres at the LSU Purple Tiger meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Williams equalled her indoor best of 7.18 seconds behind Americans Aleia Hobbs and Mikiah Brisco, who stopped the clock in 7.10 and 7.17, respectively.