Her previous personal best times were 24.77 and 55.71 respectively, though she did run 24.59 on the same track earlier this year with the aid of a +2.5mps wind. Beu took longer to adjust to the cold of Kansas than her teammate Isila Apkup who had an outstanding indoor season, but her quality has shone through outdoors as Apkupโs progress was slowed down by a hamstring strain. The pair assisted their team to win the Womens Outdoor Regional Championship for the first time in the schools history, adding to the Indoor title they won two months ago. Emmanuel Wanga is also getting close to his best times in the 200m and 400m which he recorded early in 2019 whilst training full time for the Pacific Games. Wanga ran 21.75 secs for the 200m and 48.18 in the 400m,with Shadrick Tansi not far behind him with 21.90. Tansi ran his seasons best of 48.84 in the 400m in 10 April. The pair have also featured in some outstanding 4*400m relay races this season including one where the team ran 3mins 12.22 seconds indoors which earned them third place at the Nationals. The athletes now have just eight days to prepare for the Junior College Outdoor National Championships which will be held in Levelland Tx from May 12 to 14.
Meanwhile over in Pueblo Colorado , quiet achiever Annie Topal became the second PNG athlete (after Rellie Kaputin) to clear 6.0m in the long jump. Topal ,whose main event is the triple jump had a personal best of 5.99m in the long jump until Saturday when she leapt 6.10m in the Rocky Mountain Conference Championships. This ranks her seventh in the NCAA Division 2 this season. Topal is ranked third in the triple jump and will be competing in these two events at the NCAA D2 National Championships in Allendale Michigan from May 27 to 29 along with Peniel Richard who is currently ranked fourth in the mens triple jump. He will be aiming to improve on that this weekend at the Lone Star Conference Championships which will be staged at his own school, West Texas A&M in Canyon. Richard will also be aiming to improve on his seasons best of 7.18m in the long jump to qualify for the Nationals in that event.
Toea Wisil was also in Texas last weekend and had her first race since the PNG Air National Championships in Port Moresby last year,clocking a time of 11.75secs in the 100m at Texas Tech University in Lubbock
