Pryce stunned by new national 400m mark

New national women's 400 metres record holder Nickisha Pryce has revealed that she was shocked by the time after she won the NCAA Division 1 title for the University of Arkansas on the weekend.

Pryce won the NCAA Championships outdoor 400m title in 48.89 seconds to break the previous mark of 49.30 set by Lorraine Graham Fenton in 2002.

"I was shocked. I was speechless. I never expected it though, it just happened," Pryce told @realtalkwithTee in an interview after her run in Eugene, Oregon. She added her teammates pushed her a lot in training and this helped to get her down to the sub-49 seconds time.

The former Vere Technical High athlete's time was also a collegiate leading time, meet and championships record. Later in the meet, she ran a fast leg on the 4x400m team as Arkansas won the event in a season's best, collegiate lead, meet and championships record of 3:17.96.

World Championships representative Ackelia Smith also had a big day on Saturday. After winning the women's long jump two days earlier, Smith made it a double at the meet after capturing the triple jump with a a season's best 14.52 metres. Shauntae Foreman of Clemson University was ninth with 13.30m .

Sprinter Brianna Lyston of Louisiana State University, the fastest woman over the 100m so far this season with 10.91 seconds, picked up a second-place finish in the event. She clocked a wind-aided 10.89 (plus 2.2 metres per second wind) behind winner McKenzie Long of the University of Mississippi who won in 10.82. Long went on to win the 200m in a personal best and world leading time of 21.83 seconds.

Lamara Distin of Texas A&M University was fourth in a very competitive women's high jump final with 1.91m where overseas-based athletes dominated as the top three all cleared 1.97m.

Rose Yeboah of Illinois who competes for Ghana and Elna Kulichenko of the University of Georgia who competes for Cyprus could not be separated in the end as they ended in a tie for first. Temitope Adeshina of Texas Tech who competes for Nigeria was third. Roschell Clayton of Villanova University was fifth with a personal best 1.87m.

Gabrielle Matthews of the University of Mississippi finished seventh in the women's 400m hurdles in 55.33. Jasmine Jones of University of South Carolina won in a personal best 53.18.