Usoro set all-dates best triple jump performance with 48-5.25 (14.76m) effort in home opener to eclipse 2018 indoor mark set by Orji, with Jones matching fastest 60-meter result of 6.45 shared by Coleman and Myles-Mills; Patterson becomes No. 7 all-time indoor 300-meter competitor at 31.99

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Ruth Usoro could have been content with a season-opening long jump of 21 feet, 3.25 inches (6.48m) on her first attempt Saturday at the Texas Tech Corky Classic.

Instead, the Red Raiders’ senior standout decided to return to compete in the triple jump and produced the best performance in collegiate history at the Sports Performance Center in Lubbock.

Usoro improved on her own Nigerian national indoor record with a second-attempt effort of 48-5.25 (14.76m), smashing the 2018 mark of 47-8 (14.53m) achieved by Georgia’s Keturah Orji at the Clemson Invitational.

Usoro, the reigning NCAA Division 1 indoor and outdoor triple jump champion, also surpassed Orji’s all-dates collegiate record of 48-3.25 (14.71m) when she placed fourth at the 2016 Olympics.

Usoro also elevated to the No. 25 all-time world indoor competitor, but she wasn’t the only Texas Tech athlete to produce the top mark in collegiate history.

Terrence Jones, a sophomore for the Red Raiders competing in his first indoor season, equaled the all-time collegiate mark in the 60-meter dash by clocking 6.45 seconds.

Jones, a Bahamian standout, matched the performances of Tennessee’s Christian Coleman in 2017 and Brigham Young’s Leonard Myles-Mills in 1999.

Jones became only the third sprinter globally to run at least 6.45 in January. Coleman clocked 6.37 in 2018 and fellow American Andre Cason ran 6.45 in 1992.

Florida’s Jacory Patterson lowered his own collegiate all-time mark in the indoor 300 meters by running 31.99 at the Clemson Invitational.

Patterson, who set the previous collegiate record of 32.28 competing for Virginia Tech in 2020, became only the seventh male athlete in history to run sub-32 in the indoor 300 meters.

Patterson and Bahamian professional athlete Steven Gardiner produced the two fastest all-time 300 performances in January. Gardiner clocked 32.06 on Friday at the UAB Blazer Invitational at the CrossPlex in Birmingham.