Rellie Kaputin was again the star on an action packed weekend for nine of the eleven PNG athletes in the USA who competed in various events around the country. Kaputin led her West Texas A&M University team to their fourth consecutive Lone Star Conference Indoor Championships as she won all three jumping events, setting two PNG National records in the process. First up was the long jump where her last effort of 6.27m was not only a record for the Conference but the eleventh best mark in the entire history of NCAA Division Two indoor competition. Next was the high jump where Kaputin won the event on countback in a seasons best 1.71m. In only her second triple jump competition of the season the PNG record holder then improved her own mark to 12.88m to win by a huge margin. Kaputin is now looking forward to the NCAA Division 2 National Championships in three weeks time leading the rankings in both long and triple jump.
Meanwhile down in New Mexico Poro Gahekave clocked 3:03.66 min for the 1000m and Shirley Vunatup 58.05 seconds for 400m whilst Naomi Kerari struggled to replicate her training performances in competition, clearing only 1.56m in the high jump. Over in Minnesota Afure Adah continued her good form with an excellent clocking of 24.71 seconds for 200m which when adjusted for the track specifications ranks her sixth in the country in Division 2.
