In the wake of setting two new national indoor records on the weekend, Antigua’s Joella Lloyd believes her hard work off the track has been paying off on it.
On Friday, Lloyd, a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, ran a personal best of 7.20 seconds to win the 60 meters at the two-day Clemson Tiger Paw meeting that concluded on Saturday at the Clemson Indoor Track and Field Complex in South Carolina.
The time erased her previous personal best and national record of 7.27 seconds set in February 2019. She just managed to hold off Kentucky’s Abby Steiner who was a close second in 7.21 seconds and Grenada’s Halle Hazzard, competing for Virginia, who clocked 7.26 seconds.
“Setting a new national in the 60m feels amazing,” she told Sportsmax.TV.
“The training I’ve undergone this season paid off in my race yesterday (Friday). This season we’ve been working a lot on improving my reaction time and holding my drive phase longer. Implementing more reaction exercises in my training and stepping up in the weight room has helped me improve in those two areas.”
The 18-year-old speedster also set a new national record on Saturday when she clocked 23.63 seconds in her heat of the 200 meters, the fourth-fastest time overall.
Steiner was the fastest overall in a new facility record of 22.52. Delecia McDuffie’s 23.24 was the next best while Trishauna Hemmings ran 23.28 for third. (www.sportsmax.tv)