Machel Cedenio's rich vein of form continued on Saturday night, the Trinidad and Tobago quartermiler producing a golden run at the Ponce Grand Prix, in Puerto Rico.

Cedenio clocked a fast 44.97 seconds for an impressive victory in the men's 400 metres event, relegating reigning world champion LaShawn Merritt to the runner-up spot. Merritt, who struck one-lap gold for United States at the 2008 Olympic Games, got home in 45.42. Third spot, meanwhile, went to Dominican Republic's Gustavo Cuesta (45.89).

Two Saturdays ago, Cedenio was victorious at the Cayman Invitational in a personal best 44.36 seconds, the clocking earning him second spot on the 2015 world performance list, behind Grenada's 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James (44.22).

Thanks to his 44.36 PR (personal record), 19-year-old Cedenio moved into joint-second on the all-time T&T list, alongside Deon Lendore, and behind national record holder Ian Morris (44.21).

There was victory too in Ponce for T&T sprinter Keston Bledman. Running into a 0.8 metres per second headwind, Bledman stopped the clock at 10.17 seconds.

There was a close battle for second, American Harry Adams taking the silver in 10.26, the same time produced by his St Kitts and Nevis namesake, Antoine Adams. Just one-thousandth of a second separated Adams and Adams.

T&T's Emanuel Mayers clocked 50.49 seconds to finish second in section one and seventh overall in the men's 400m hurdles. Bahamian Jeffery Gibson, the winner of section two in 49.19, took the gold, ahead of Puerto Rico's Javier Culson (49.31) and Nigerian Miles Ukaoma (49.39).

At the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Track and Field Championships, in Alabama, USA, T&T's Dan-Neil Telesford seized silver in the men's 200m in a wind-assisted 20.93 seconds.

In the qualifying round, Telesford won heat three in 21.18 to advance automatically to the final. His Wiley College teammate and fellow-T&T athlete, Quinn-Lee Ralph was ninth overall in 21.25, just missing out on a lane in the eight-man championship race.

Ralph was 13th fastest in the 100m preliminaries in 10.59 seconds. And in the 400m, Telesford was 17th overall in 48.96.

Three T&T athletes-Ralph, Justin Maloney and Telesford-teamed up with American Jordan Woods to secure men's 4x400m silver for Wiley College, in three minutes, 12.45 seconds.

In the 4x100m relay, the all-T&T Wiley combination of Ralph, Telesford, Machael Mark and Maloney bagged bronze in 40.59 seconds. Wiley had clocked 40.55 in the heats.

Wiley accumulated 22 points to finish 15th in the men's team competition. Concordia University, Nebraska won with a total of 59 points.

In California, Ayanna Alexander produced a wind-aided 13.28 metres effort for sixth spot in the Chula Vista Elite #2 women's triple jump event.

And at the Tucson Elite Classic, in Arizona, Central Arizona College athlete Hezekiel Romeo finished ninth in the men's shot put with a 17.23m throw.

Source