BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING last weekend’s Florida State University (FSU) Relays, Kittitian Marecia Pemberton became the fastest Caribbean woman in the world by running a time of 11.41sec in the 100m.
The 19-year-old freshman made a phenomenal debut for the FSU Seminoles at the Mike Long Track as she finished well ahead of the pack, followed only by sophomore teammate out of Kingston, Jamaica Danielle Jeffrey in a time of 11.62sec.
FSU Head Coach Harlis Meaders described the time as a “terrific start” for Pemberton and a marked improvement over her 2009 personal best of 11.61sec, which was recorded at the Pan American Junior Championships in July in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.
Pemberton’s time cemented her as having the second fastest time in all of the NCAA thus far in the season.
The blistering pace of the exercise science major also gave her the seventh fastest time in the world at this moment behind four Americans and two Australians, while simultaneously being the fastest Caribbean woman in the world. Jamaica’s Stephanie McPherson trails immediately behind Pemberton by .03sec in the IAAF world rankings.
Those ahead of Pemberton currently are Jeneba Tarmoh (11.26), Gabrielle Mayo (11.27), Shareese Woods (11.36) and ChaRonda Williams (11.38) of the United States and Sally McLellan (11.39) and Jody Henry (11.40) of Australia.
The FSU star is tied with Melissa Breen of Australia and the pair shares the honour of being the two youngest athletes on the IAAF’s top ten women’s 100m outdoor list.
Pemberton is scheduled to return to the track this weekend as FSU splits its athletes between the Florida and Texas Relays from April 1-3.
