Saint Augustine's College rising senior Joe Kindred led a contingent of black college tracksters who turned in outstanding performances at the 2008 North America, Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Under-23 Track and Field Championships held this past weekend in Toluca, Mexico. Kindred, the 2008 Division II national outdoor male field athlete of the year, won the high jump with a leap of 2.27 meters.

Kindred finished ahead of Darvin Edwards and Jamal Wilson, who both jumped 2.23 meters. Kindred won one of 28 gold medals as Team USA dominated the competition by capturing more medals than any other country and rewriting the record books.

Team USA totalled 62 total medals: 28 gold, 26 silver and 8 bronze. Mexico finished a distant second with 19 medals, followed by Canada (3rd-15 medals), Jamaica (4th-11 medals) and the Dominican Republic (5th-6 medals).

The 2008 Division II national outdoor high jump champion, Kindred recently competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials but did not make the finals. Barbara Pierre, a Saint Augustine's rising junior, finished fourth in the women's 100 meters in 11.45 seconds. Pierre is the two-time Div. II national champion in the women's 100 meters. Ramon Gittens of Saint Augustine's placed fifth in 10.33 seconds in the men's 100 meters.

Bethune-Cookman freshman sensation Ronnie Ash turned in a third-place finish in his specialty, the 110-meter high hurdles. Ash added to his recordbreaking season becoming the first major medalist in B-CU history by earning the bronze.

Ash finished in 13.72 seconds to finish behind the first-place exploits of the University of South Carolina's Jason Richardson. Richardson turned in a time of 13.32 to claim the gold medal as a senior for
the Gamecocks. In the process, the Raleigh, N.C. native captured the first-ever major medal for any Bethune-Cookman track & field student-athlete.

He previously became the school's first recorded Outdoor All-America performer on the NCAA Div. I level when he finished third at the national outdoor championships.

The Wildcats moved to Division I back in 1980. Hampton sprinter Francena McCrory made the finals of the 400 meters running a time of 53.51 seconds to finish seventh in the semifinals. But she did not compete after suffering a cramp in her hamstring. Jamaica's Bobbi-Gaye Wilkins won the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.34.

McCorory, a sophomore, won both the 200 and 400 meters in the Morgan State Legacy Meet April 18-19, and
also finished seventh in the 200-meter dash at the MEAC Outdoor Championships with a 24.35 before winning the 400-meter dash in 51.54.

The NACAC Athletic Association's U-23 Championships are held every two years in one of the 32 member nations of the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association, one of six regional athletics associations affiliated with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).