CINCINNATI - Over the weekend (July 19), Caisja Chandler, a rising sophomore with the University of Cincinnati track & field program, represented her country in the 2019 Pan-American U20 Championships in Costa Rica as she ran the third leg of the victorious 4x100m relay for Team USA to capture gold. Chandler, no stranger to the podium at big competitions, helped the Americans to a time of 43.51, nearly one second faster than runner-up Jamaica.
According to the meet report from Costa Rica, Chandler, along with Thelma Davies, Semira Killebrew and Brandee Presley, overcame the Jamaicans with Chandler getting the Americans into the lead on her leg before Presley closed out the victory, seeing the U.S. finish ahead of Jamaica (44.36) and Canada (44.42) at the line. The U.S. team's time ranks as the seventh-fastest by an American U20 relay and was fractions of one second off a pair of records, including 0.13 off the meet record, 0.22 off the U.S. U20 mark and 0.24 off the world U20 record (Germany, 43.27, 2017).
To reach the meet in Costa Rica, Chandler raced in the 100m and 200m events at the USA Junior Championships in late June where she placed fourth in the 100m (11.33) and third in the 200m (23.07). While only the Top 2 finishers in each event represented Team USA in those events in Costa Rica, Chandler was among the Top 4 finishers and added to the U.S. relay pool.
The gold medal run for Chandler capped an impressive debut season with the Bearcats. The 2019 American Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year, the Euclid High School product decimated the Bearcats' record book in 2019 as she had a hand in five outdoor school records, including the overall and UC freshman records in both the 100m and 200m to go along with the overall mark in the 4x100m relay. By the end of the outdoor season, Chandler, who helped UC qualify to the NCAA Finals in the 4x100m relay for the first time as the lead leg while also reaching the final meet in the 200m, posted times of 11.30 in the 100m and 22.97 in the 200m on the year. On a conference level, she reached the podium in all four races she ran, placing third in the 100m and second in the 200m individually before helping the 4x100m and 4x400m relays to runner-up showings.
Indoors, Chandler scored 11.75 points for the runner-up Bearcats as she placed second in the 200m, sixth in the 60m and helped the 4x400m relay to sixth place as well. In that meet, she broke the school record in the 200m as she ran 23.52 after running 7.44 in the 60m for the #3 time in program history. Earlier in the year, she opened her career running 39.27 in the 300m for the #5 time in UC history as well. On the relay scene, she helped the Bearcats posted three times that now rank in the program's all-time Top 10, including the #5 (3:42.56), #7 (3:43.55) and #9 (3:44.08) times.
Chandler Golden with Team USA in 4x100m Relay
Over the weekend, Caisja Chandler, a rising sophomore with the University of Cincinnati track & field program, represented her country in the 2019 Pan-American U20 Championships in Costa Rica as she ran the third leg of the victorious 4x100m relay for Team USA to capture gold.
