Oakley’s 48.92 SEC victory sets world lead and Jamaican No. 2 mark

Dejanea Oakley delivered the quickest women’s 400 metres of the season anywhere in the world when the Jamaican quarter-miler stopped the clock at 48.92 seconds to take the title at the South Eastern Conference Championships over the weekend.

The University of Georgia athlete, who previously competed for Clarendon College, lowered her own personal best with the run. The time also stands as a meet record and sits only three-hundredths of a second off the collegiate record. Among Jamaican women, only Nickisha Pryce, with her 48.5, has gone faster. Oakley and Pryce are the only Jamaican females to dip under 49 seconds.

After the race, Oakley said she was thrilled with the result.

“I am over the sky, and to meet me you have to fly there,” she said in a post-race interview.

Oakley pointed to the energy within her squad as a major factor behind the performance. “Seeing my teammates doing very well was a big motivation for me, and seeing one of my former teammates and training partners running 49 seconds earlier in the day was even more motivation,” she said. She had watched Aaliyah Butler place second at the Shanghai Diamond League in 49.78, behind Pryce’s winning 49.75. Butler won the event at last year’s NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championships while representing Georgia; Oakley finished second in that final.

Even with a global-leading clocking, Oakley said the effort was not flawless. “I could have done much better, but my first 200m was not perfect and I am pretty sure this is what my coach will say to me, and I will have to work on this,” she stated.