By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway
Jaleel Croal
South Florida Bulls sprinter Jaleel Croal, capped off the NCAA Division I East Regional on Friday, by smashing the 20-seconds barrier in the 200m, to qualify for the NCAA DI Outdoor Track and Field Championships in both individual sprints. He also qualified for the World Athletics Championships in the process, while Florida State quarter miler Kaelyaah Liburd will join Croal at the NC’s, marking the first time a male and female will be in the same championships in an individual event, since BVI athletes began qualifying for the championships in 1979.
Croal ran his 200m in 19.95 seconds in a race that had a +1.4 meters per second wind, to finish third in his heat with a school and BVI national record time, improving the 20.28 seconds he ran to complete a sweep of the American Athletics Conference 100 and 200m two weeks ago. He ran a personal best of 10.08 second for his spot in the 100m, after helping his 4x100m Relay to 38.05 seconds.
He described his weekend as “accomplished” and said his mindset going into the 200m was to “survive and advance.” “I knew my heat was kinda tough and they had me in lane nine so I was like they’re going to regret it, so I had to run. You know me and the outside lane gets along good,” he told Island Sun Sports, saying when he saw 19.95, he thought the time was wrong. “I saw it next to my name and I was like that said 19? I stood and waited for it to be updated. It showed that I came second and I was like, okay, and then it showed that I came third, so I was confused, but then I thought they made a mistake with the times. And then I saw the final result and it still said 19, it was just surreal.”
Croal, who is now ranked No 9 in the world and moved to No 87 on the World Athletics All Time List in the event, said it means a lot to have qualified for the NCAA D I Championships in the two sprints. “I tried to do it last year, but I messed up the 100m part, but it feels good to do the double this time around, because I wanted to do it last year,” he said. “To do it this time, it feels good.”
Weather affected Wednesday’s prelims, delaying his race for several hours, after it was postponed just as he started his warm up for a 7:20 p.m. start. He ran 10.40 secs in the 100m just after 11 p.m., then ran 20.95 in the 200m just before 1 a.m. on Thursday. “At that point, I just wanted to get the races over with and I was confident I would have qualified for the next round,” he said. “My mindset was just to run and advance.”
Croal said he’s still in shock as he looked back at his 200m season, which he opened with 20.60 secs and followed up with 20.89 into a headwind, then 20.77 in the prelims of his conference championships and said he was “worried.” He was running fast in practice, but not converting it in races. “Then to run 20.28 (to win the conference) I said now I’m doing something good,” he said. “But what messed me up again was when I ran 20.95 in the prelims, and I was like 20.9, but I wasn’t worried because I didn’t give it my all. I didn’t have any nerves which bothered me, but all season long, I’ve been saying that the time will come when it needs to come and it did.”
He said his family is extremely proud and was saying that he could actually run in the 19s after dropping from 20.38 last year to 20.28. “But to see it actually happen, they were shocked,” he said. “Everybody is just proud of me, but some of my friends are wondering if I’m human, which is kind of funny.”
Liburd—the BVI’s 12th NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships qualifier since 1979—was third in her 400m quarter final on Saturday in 51.31 seconds, improving the 51.43 she ran on Thursday to break Ashley Kelly’s 51.63 seconds national record from 2016. In the last month, she has run 51.95, and 51.73 twice.
