Fil-American Zion Corrales-Nelson set another Philippine record, this time at the New Mexico Indoor Team Invitational in Albuquerque.
The 21-year-old Corrales-Nelson clocked 24.34 seconds in her heat of the women’s 200-meter dash, breaking the national mark set by Princess Griffey 11 years ago.
Griffey clocked 24.33 seconds at a dual meet in the United States back in 2009.
This is the third record that Corrales-Nelson has broken in the last two years.
Last year, she was the first of two sprinters in 2019 to break Lydia de Vega-Mercado’s 33-year national record (23.65 seconds).
That was when Corrales-Nelson set a 23.16-second Philippine record in the US NCAA West Preliminary meet in Sacramento, California last May 25, 2019.
Josephine Anokye of Arizona State, who was first in her heat, took overall first place in 23.61 seconds, with Kreet Verlin of Washington in second (24 seconds), followed in third by Ayla Stanisclaus of New Mexico (24.11 seconds).
Corrales-Nelson’s feat came as she tried to reach the Olympic qualifying standards in the 60-meter and the 400-meter events.
Corrales-Nelson clocked 58.45 seconds in the 400-meter preliminaries to place fourth in her heat, and 11th overall.
Her performance was far from the Philippine mark of Kayla Richardson, which is at 54.94 seconds.
She placed fourth in her heat, and 11th overall in the final tally, with Karoline Sauer of New Mexico winning the gold in 54.83 seconds.
In the 60-meter run, Corrales-Nelson placed second overall with a time of 7.54 seconds, and with Stanisclaus topping it in 7.43 seconds.
She is far from the 7.37 second national mark of de Vega-Mercado.
The Olympic qualifying standards for the 400-meters and the 60-meters are set at 52.90 seconds and 7.3 seconds respectively.
Female pole vaulter Natalie Uy, sprinter-hurdler Eric Cray, runner Kristina Knott, shot putter Willie Morrison and newly-added marathoner Christine Hallasgo are and Mary Joy Tabal are seeking qualification in the Olympics.
