Four Ghanaian Athletes Win an Unprecedented 8 Gold Medals at 2014 US National JUCO Outdoor Championships



The Ghana Athletics Association has praised its athletes in the USA after four of the athletes won an unprecedented eight-gold medals at the just ended 2014 US National JUCO Outdoor Championships.



“We at GAA thank the good Lord for his favour, and for the friends and supporters he has granted us. We praise His name and salute our 4 double-gold medallists at the JUCO this past weekend,” a GAA statement said.



JUCO Results

Janet Amponsah: 100m, 200m



Elizabeth Dadzie: Heptathlon, Triple Jump (plus bronze in the Long Jump)

Agnes Abu: 800m, 1500m

Lydia Mato: 5000m, 10,000m (plus silver in the 1500m)

Western Texas College student Janet Amponsah secured the double, winning the 100m event in a time of 11.36 before adding the 200m event crossing the finish line with a 23.18 secs clocking.



The Ghanaian Sprint Queen also anchored her relay team to silver in the women's 4x400m, thus finishing the weekend with 2 gold and 1 silver medal.

After finishing the heptathlon–two days of gruelling competition in 7 events–and also winning the open triple jump on the first day, Elizabeth Dadzie ended up with a bronze medal in the open long jump at the end of the second day of the JUCO.



She lost the gold and silver by 1 cm, as the two who beat her jumped 5.78 meters, while she managed 5.77 meters.



Similarly, Barton County College middle distance specialist, Agnes Abu, showed guts to win a gold medal in the 800m event, her second after the 1500m gold only 90 minutes earlier.



Abu’s teammate, Lydia Mato, also of the Barton County College, beat two Kenyans to win the 10,000m race in a time of 39:08.93 10. Mato won a tactical but slow race to secure her first national title in the 10,000m before clinching another gold medal in the 5000m race.

Elsewhere, Daniel Gyasi led off his Western Texas College team to a national championship in the 4x400m, when they put down a 3.04.99s time to pip the South Plains College, who had the fastest qualifying time in the previous days heats, and the fastest time in the national ranking coming into the weekend's

championships.





Ghana also scored a second bronze medal in the women's 400m hurdles (Adelaide Nkrumah) and a 7th place in the men's 400m flat (Daniel Gyasi).



The Ghanaian athletes thus won 9 gold medals overall.



The GAA is looking forward to next week's NAIA Championships and NCAA Regional’s where some national athletes are also set to compete in.



It will be recalled that the Ghana Athletics Association through its Education Trust Fund, facilitated and helped secured academic scholarships for these athletes in USA this past January.



The Ghana Athletics Association’s (GAA) Education Trust Fund was set up last year to help under-privileged and talented athletes achieve both academic and sports excellence.

,,,,,,