By Neto Baptiste
National female sprinter, Joella Lloyd, continues to turn heads following her silver medal run in the 60 meters dash of the Virginia Tech Invitational in the USA on Friday.
The junior athlete clocked 7.34 seconds, setting a new national record while representing the University of Tennessee at the meet. She was bettered by former Tennessee teammate, Maia McCoy who clocked 7.31 seconds to win the race.
It was only just a week earlier that Lloyd had set the previous junior record of 7.41 seconds, only to return on Friday to register the astonishing 7.34 seconds.
The sprinter, had also previously clocked 24.24 seconds in the 200 meters to also set a new indoor national junior record in that event. The meet, a duel with Indiana University, was her first for Tennessee.
Lloyd, who struggled with injuries towards the end of 2019, had earlier clocked 7.54 seconds to comfortably win heat four and advance to the finals.
On the night, Tennessee athletes combined for a total of 14 indoor personal records which included Lloyd’s feat.
The Antigua and Barbuda Athletics Association’s nominee for the Junior Sportswoman of the Year, is however, just one of a number of young national athletes performing well over the past weeks. Triple jump athlete Sheldon Noble, who represents Western Kentucky, recently leaped 14.95 meters at the Jim Green Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky to qualify for the 2020 Carifta Games. Gomes joined Taeco O’Garro as a qualifier to the Easter weekend meet in Bermuda.