OXFORD, Miss. — J’Vente Deveaux soared through the air and landed in a spray of sand.
When it was all said and done last weekend, Deveaux had won the men’s triple jump at the 2011 Ole Miss Invitational. The Allen County Community College sophomore claimed the gold medal with a school record-breaking jump of 53 feet, 111⁄4 inches.
“J’Vente dominated the competition by nearly two feet,” said Christa Baird, ACCC assistant track coach. ACCC teammate Keith Bateman finished 11th at 45’61⁄4”.
Deveaux shattered the Allen County record. The old mark was 49’2” set by Weldon Paul in 1996.
Deveaux now holds both the indoor and outdoor triple jump records for Allen County. He set the indoor mark, 53’ 11⁄2”, in February. Deveaux, who is from Nassau, Bahamas, is the reigning Region VI and Jayhawk Conference indoor triple jump champion.
The triple jump mark was not the only ACCC school record to fall at the University of Mississippi track meet. A new 4×400-meter relay standard was set for the Allen County men.
DeMario Johnson, Trent Huling, John Thurston and Brandon Miller combined to take fourth place in the meet. They ran the race in 3 minutes, 10.94 seconds.
The old record time was 3:18.66 set in 2010 by Huling, Kyran Stewart, Thurston and Kyrese Banks. They ran that time at the University of Arkansas Twilight Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.
Stewart turned in his personal-best time of 21.08 seconds in placing fourth in the 200-meter dash. Huling was ninth in 21.39 seconds.
Stewart also ran fourth in the 100-meter dash in 10.47 seconds. He combined with Huling, Chris Henry and D. Johnson for a third-place run of 40.69 seconds in the 4×100-meter relay.
Miller posted an NJCAA national meet qualifying time in the 400-meter dash. He placed fourth in 48.15 seconds with Huling in 10th at 48.72 and Bryant Terry in 11th at 48.89.
Jean Frenot finished eighth in the 400-meter hurdles in 53.95 seconds. That was fast enough to qualify for the national meet in May.
Allen County did not have anyone place in the top 10 from its women’s team. Nakita Casey was 34th in the 100-meter dash, 12.77 seconds, and 51st in the 200 meters, 26.93.
Others competing at Ole Miss for the ACCC men were: 100-m dash-12. D. Johnson, 10.67, 19. Henry, 10.84; 200-m dash-15. Miller, 21.88, 16. D. Johnson, 21.91, 25. Henry, 22.17, 26. Darrlyn Bennett, 22.18, 29. Terry, 22.26, 38. Zach Baldwin, 22.69, 41. Brandon Smith, 22.80, 42. Abraham Walker, 22.86; 400-m dash-19. Bennett, 49.70, 21. Walker, 49.91, 24. Baldwin, 50.36, 43. Rashad Patton, 53.01; 800-m run-25. Jesse Jenkins, 2:01.07; 110-m high hurdles-23. Olnel Virgil, 16.16; long jump-18. Bateman, 20’53⁄4”; shot put-12. Travis Venniro, 45’71⁄4”, 23. DeAndre Speed, 33’111⁄4”; 4×400-m relay-11. ACCC (Terry, Frenot, Walker, Bennett), 3:17.79.
Several members of the ACCC track teams competed at a meet hosted by Emporia State over the weekend.
Kasie House was 34th in the women’s 100-meter dash in 14.21 seconds and 50th in the 200 meters in 29.81.
Travis Kyte placed 39th in the men’s 3,000-meter run in 18:41.10. Solomon Aberra was 54th in the 1500-meter run in 4:39.36 and 65th in the 800-meter run in 2:09.33.
John Thompson II was 53rd in the 100 meters in 12.01 seconds and 55th in the 200 meters in 24.62.
Allen County competes next at the KU Relays in Lawrence April 20-23.
Deveaux sets triple jump mark – ACCC men’s 4×400 relay team has record race
