BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – KITTITIAN Marecia Pemberton again demonstrated her growing prowess in the 100m this past weekend as she dashed to a new personal record of 11.33sec at the 2010 Seminole Twilight.
The event was the brainchild of Florida State University (FSU) Assistant Coach Ken Harnden, who wanted to have races similar to European meets with a brief programme that features large numbers of elite athletes.
Pemberton has quickly risen to the upper echelon of the NCAA in her freshman season with the FSU Seminoles, and the Twilight event was no different as she finished well ahead of teammate Teona Rodgers (11.51) and Tulane’s Olivia Kizzee (11.59) in the Women’s Elite 100m.
The former Basseterre High School sprint queen recorded her event winning time in less than optimal conditions, as the meet had been delayed for roughly an hour due to rain.
“Obviously, we had the rain delay and it ended up clearing up, but it's not ideal conditions. It was awfully thick out here, which certainly hurts the distance runners but it's not even good for the sprinters,” FSU Head Coach Bob Braman said following the meet.
The time places Pemberton among the 30 fastest women in the world right now in the 100m, according to the IAAF. It also shows that Pemberton continues to improve her stride, as her previous two best times (11.12 and 11.20) were wind-assisted and would not officially count as qualifying marks.
In addition to the 100m display of power, Pemberton ran the second leg of the Women’s 4x100m and helped her team to a season’s best time of 43.13sec, which is also the second fastest time in the NCAA currently.
“The first two events, right out of the box, were awesome with the Women's 4x100 with a 43.13," Braman said. "Last year we were second in the NCAA Meet with a 43.30, so now you start going head-to-head with Texas A&M, who has the collegiate record. Teams are going to have to pay attention to us a little bit.”
The international spotlight was also turned up on the Seminole Twilight thanks to a special appearance by former Seminole and current top-level US sprinter Walter Dix, who set two new FSU records with a time of 9.98sec in the 100m and 19.89sec in the 200m.
It was recently revealed that track and field fans in the Federation would get their chance to see Pemberton in action next month, as she is currently scheduled to make an appearance at the National Invitational Championships at the Silver Jubilee Anniversary Stadium on June 20.
