Kyra Jefferson sped to a collegiate record of 22.02 to win the women&rsquo;s 200m on the final day of the NCAA Championships in Eugene on Saturday (10).
The Florida student trailed pre-race favourite Deajah Stevens going into the home straight, but gradually closed the deficit over the final 50 metres. Struggling to keep the 2015 winner at bay, Olympic finalist Stevens lost her footing in the closing 10 metres and tumbled to the ground, leaving Jefferson to cross the line in a lifetime best of 22.02.
&ldquo;I saw Deajah come through inside me, but I kept fighting through the entire race,&rdquo; said Jefferson. &ldquo;This year I&rsquo;ve been doing a lot better with running the curve and the whole race. It was kind of exciting; I didn&rsquo;t know which one of us would win, but I stopped looking around and focused on the finish line. I didn&rsquo;t want to give up.&rdquo;
It was the second major disappointment for Stevens this year, following her experience at the NCAA Indoor Championships where she ran a would-be North American indoor 200m record of 22.28 in the heats, only to be disqualified for a lane violation.
She had also finished second in the 100m on Saturday as hurdles specialist Mikiah Brisco took a surprising victory in 10.96 to Stevens&rsquo; 11.04 (0.3m/s).
But the 22-year-old&rsquo;s championships ended on a high after she contributed to Oregon&rsquo;s crucial victory in the women&rsquo;s 4x400m, landing the hosts with the overall team title in a tight battle with Georgia.
Stevens took the baton from first-leg runner Makenzie Dunmore, putting Oregon level with USC at the half-way point. A 50.80 split from Elexis Guster gave Oregon a slight lead as Raevyn Rogers &ndash; who had earlier won the 800m in 2:00.02 &ndash; set off on the anchor.
Rogers was passed on the inside by 50.45 runner Kendall Ellis of USC on the first bend, but she kept her cool and waited until the final 200 metres to respond, edging into the lead and holding off Ellis to win in a world-leading 3:23.12 to smash the 13-year-old collegiate record. Helped by Ellis&rsquo;s 49.63 split, USC also finished well inside the previous collegiate record with 3:23.35.
&ldquo;My heart was beating so fast,&rdquo; said Rogers after running a 49.77 split. &ldquo;This is what we train for, so to be able to bring it all together and show it off in the 4x400m was something remarkable for us.&rdquo;
Nigeria&rsquo;s Tobi Amusan scored top points for UTEP by winning the 100m hurdles in a lifetime best of 12.57. Defending champion Jasmine Camacho-Quin of Kentucky made up significant ground in the latter stages but couldn&rsquo;t quite catch the fast-starting Amusan before the line. Camacho-Quinn, who had earlier helped Kentucky win the 4x100m title in 42.51, set a Puerto Rican record of 12.58 in second place.
The finish in the 1500m was almost as close but even more exciting. Going into the last lap, Michigan&rsquo;s Jaimie Phelan was right at the back of a tightly bunched 12-woman pack, but she timed her finish to perfection and caught Nikki Hiltz of Arkansas just before the line, winning by two hundredths of a second in 4:13.78.
Jamaica&rsquo;s world 4x400m champion Chrisann Gordon couldn&rsquo;t quite match her time from the semifinals, but the Texas student found 50.51 to win the 400m from Miami&rsquo;s Shakima Wimbley.
Arizona&rsquo;s Sage Watson came within 0.13 of the Canadian record to win the 400m hurdles in 54.52, winning by 0.84 from world U20 champion Anna Cockrell of USC.
The women&rsquo;s discus played out in much the same way as the men&rsquo;s contest 24 hours earlier with the eventual winner moving from third to first in the latter stages of the competition. Shadae Lawrence of Kansas State was in third place after four rounds before moving into second place with her penultimate throw. The Jamaican record-holder saved her best for last, throwing 61.37m in round six to take a convincing win.
Elsewhere, North American record-holder Keturah Orji comfortably won the triple jump with a wind-assisted 14.29m (3.3m/s).
Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

Kyra Jefferson sped to a collegiate record of 22.02 to win the women’s 200m on the final day of the NCAA Championships in Eugene on Saturday (10).

Jefferson breaks 200m collegiate record at NCAA Championships

Rasheed Dwyer, Kyra Jefferson and Quanesha Burks produced world class performances on the final day of the 2nd NACAC Senior Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica, when 15 of the 16 finals contested saw championship records on Sunday (9).Two days after equalling the championship record with 20.17 in his 200m heat, Jamaica&rsquo;s Commonwealth champion Rasheed Dwyer lowered it to 20.12 to confirm his medal ambitions at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing later this month. The second-fastest man in the world this year, with 19.80 to his name, was followed home by Dominican Republic&rsquo;s Yancarlos Martinez, who was just 0.06 short of his national record with 20.28.In the women&rsquo;s 200m, US sprinter Kyra Jefferson took the win in 22.50 in a close finish with Trinidad and Tobago's Semoy Hackett, who improved her national record to 22.51. In a high-quality race, USA&rsquo;s Dezerea Bryant took third in 22.58.Earlier in the day, 20-year old Jefferson anchored her team to a commanding win in the 4x100m, the US quartet winning in 42.24. Barbara Pierre, Lekeisha Lawson and Bryant completed the quartet. In second place, Puerto Rico lower their eight-year-old national record to 43.51.Another notable performance came in the women&rsquo;s long jump, when USA&rsquo;s Quanesha Burks rode a perfect 2.0m/s breeze in the third round and improved her lifetime best by nine centimetres to 6.93m to claim the gold medal. Chantel Malone added four centimetres to her own British Virgin Islands mark with her first-round effort of 6.69m.Puerto Rico&rsquo;s Javier Culson posted a confidence-boosting victory in the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles with 48.70, almost a second faster than anyone else, with Cuba&rsquo;s 19-year-old Jose Luis Gaspar second in 49.67. In fifth place, Dominican Republic&rsquo;s two-time Olympic champion Felix Sanchez, who turns 38 later this month, improved his season&rsquo;s best to 50.23.In the women&rsquo;s race, Tiffany Williams produced an equally commanding win with 54.37 for her first major international title. The 32-year old two-time world championships and 2008 Olympic Games finalist also ran the third leg for the USA squad which took the 4x400m gold medal in a championship record of 3:25.39.Another gold medal went to the USA when NCAA champion Jonathan Jones won the shot put with 20.54m.After disappointment in the 100m finals, Jamaica shone in the men&rsquo;s 4x100m final with an impressive 38.07, the country&rsquo;s second and the world&rsquo;s fifth fastest time this year. Mario Forsythe, Jason Livermore, Oshane Bailey and Sheldon Mitchell collectively held off the USA, who were second in 38.45 with Barbados third in a national record 38.55.Two continental winners repeated their victories from the Pan American Games. Saint Lucia&rsquo;s Levern Spencer cleared 1.91m for the high jump gold medal while USA&rsquo;s Ashley Higginson won the 3000m steeplechase in 9:56.75.World indoor 800m champion Chanelle Price confirmed her status as favourite and clinched the 800m gold medal with a win over two laps of the track in 2:00.48 while Pan American Games bronze medallist Ryan Martin broke 1:46 for the first time this season and took the men&rsquo;s event in 1:45.79.Surprisingly, Cuba&rsquo;s only win at the NACAC Championships came in the men&rsquo;s hammer with national record-holder and Pan American Games silver medallist Roberto Janet throwing 72.72m to win by almost a metre.Fielding the largest delegation, the USA easily dominated the overall standings with 47 medals, including 27 gold.After the championships, the NACAC region held a special gala in honour of outgoing IAAF president Lamine Diack, who will step down after 16 years at the helm of the world&rsquo;s governing body for athletics. Various athletics legends from the area and beyond joined President Diack and NACAC chairman Victor Lopez at the gala, including Carl Lewis and IAAF Vice Presidents Robert Hersh, Sergey Bubka and Sebastian Coe.Javier Clavelo Robinson for the IAAF

Rasheed Dwyer, Kyra Jefferson and Quanesha Burks produced world class performances on the final day of the 2nd NACAC Senior Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica, when 15 of the 16 finals contested saw championship records on Sunday (9).

Jefferson breaks 200m collegiate record at NCAA Championships

Dwyer, Jefferson and Burks the stars of the final day of NACAC Championships