Rellie Kaputin

Athletics PNG President Tony Green witnessed the graduation ceremony along with a number of Kaputin’s fellow PNG team members, including Sharon Kwarula, herself a graduate from the same University.

Coach Green said that they were all proud of Kaputin for what she has achieved, highlighting her hard work to get this far.

Proud coach Green says Kaputin has shown what determination, hard work and sacrifice can do.

This follows her success in the triple jump last year where she won both the indoor and outdoor national titles.

Kaputin wasn’t at her best in the triple jump but still collected six vital points for the team by placing third, and her sixteen points was again the highest contribution from any West Texas A&M University athlete.

The Lady Buffs maintained their position as the number one Division 2 team in the USA after winning the outdoor title last year.

The 24 year old from East New Britain produced a massive long jump of 6.53m for second place behind her team mate Fatim Affessi.

“Despite the fact that the wind reading was +2.1metres per second which is slightly over the maximum 2.0 allowed for this to be recognised as a record it is nonetheless a very significant breakthrough for Rellie especially when one considers that the qualifying mark for the Rio Olympics was 6.70 metres,” said Athletics PNG President, Tony Green.

Rellie Kaputin, Adrine Monagi and Peniel Richard competed at the Lone Star Conference Championships in Commerce, Texas while Wesley Logorava and Robson Yinambe were in action at the Region V Junior College Championships in Arkansas, Kansas.

Poro Gahekave, Shirley Vunatup and Naomi Kerari were at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock for their final meet before the Junior College National Championships next week.

After completing the heptathlon on Thursday/Friday, Monagi then ran the 100m and 100m hurdles heats on Friday, and on Saturday took part in another five events.

Both Peniel Richard and Rellie Kaputin registered very significant performances in the long jump last weekend in Texas, leaping 7.57m and 6.41m respectively.

Although both performances were marginally wind assisted and therefore not recognised as national records, they are both well over the national record marks of 7.21m and 6.27m respectively.

Rellie Kaputin is having a record breaking season for West Texas A&M University and heads the National Rankings in both Long Jump and Triple Jump.

She will also be hoping for a podium finish (top eight placing) in the high jump.

Another PNG athlete making waves is 20 year old sprinter/hurdler Afure Adah representing Minnesota State University Mankato.

Adah, who represented PNG in the 100m hurdles and 4x400m relay at the 2015 Pacific Games has shown significant improvement this year and is ranked 5^th  in the 200m sprint going into the Championships.

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.

The award was in recognition of Kaputin becoming the first athlete since 2012 to earn All-American honours in three different events at the same National Championships.

Her 14 points at the 2016 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 2 Nationals is the most by any West Texas athlete in school history.

She finished second in the triple jump with a mark of 12.83m which broke both the school and PNG national record.

The junior from Papa New Guinea became the first All-American for West Texas A&M at the 2016 edition of the championships breaking the school record in the process. Her jump of 20-5 (6.22m) on her fourth attempt was good enough to put her on the podium for the first time in her career.

"Rellie was outstanding today," WT head coach Darren Flowers said.