Chang commits to reigning NCAA champions University of Florida
Published:Sunday | December 18, 2022 | 2:17 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
FORMER UNDER-20 world discus champion Kai Chang will be in new environs next year when he closes his chapter at The University of the West Indies and heads to the United States to the University of Florida.
Chang’s commitment to the programme was announced recently as part of the 2023 recruiting class on their social media pages on December 10.
Chang, a Calabar High school alum, will be heading to a programme that is among the best in the United States, having won both the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Outdoor Championships this year under the direction of head coach Mike Holloway. Chang will be under the guidance of assistant coach Eric Werskey, who is responsible for throws.
Chang competed in only four events this year, which included the Penn Relays in April and the National Senior Championships in June, where he threw a season’s best of 60.21 metres.
Chang’s under-23 career has been strong, having won the under-20 world title in Tampere, Finland, in 2018 and gold at the 2021 NACAC Under-23 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.
The year 2021 would be a defining year for Chang as he threw over 60 metres for the first time as a senior athlete. He would go on to surpass that distance seven times that season with a personal best throw of 64.49 in June 2021, the final meet before the NACAC Under-23 Championships in July of that year.
Chang will be the second Jamaican to be at Florida, joining national 400-metre champion and World Championship 4x400m silver medallist Jevaughn Powell. Powell transferred from the University of Texas-El Paso after making his World Championship debut in June.
Chang is among other Jamaican athletes who have made commitments to US colleges next year, which include Calabar’s Kobe Lawrence, who will be attending the University of Oregon next year, and Hydel’s Oneika McAnuff, who has committed to the University of Kentucky.