BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO Kittitian athletes attending college in the United States impressed this weekend with winning performances at the NCAA Eastern Preliminary Round and the NAIA Track and Field Championships.
Former Basseterre Senior High School sprinter Marecia Pemberton continued to wow in her first year with the Florida State University Seminoles as she competed over the weekend for a spot in the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which begins on June 9.
Pemberton has continually been at the top of the US college rankings throughout the year and was able to continue her outstanding season with a new personal best in the preliminary round of the Women’s 100m.
Running a time of 11.12 seconds with a tailwind of 2.4m/s, the FSU freshman finished several lengths ahead of Southern Mississippi’s Chastity Riggien (11.31) and Central Florida’s Sheila Paul (11.36).
Pemberton was then able to easily qualify through to next week’s Outdoor Championship with another resounding first place finish in the semi-finals, this time with a legal mark of 11.29 seconds.
Once again, the competition could not keep pace with the Kittitian sprint queen and Clemson’s Stormy Kendrick took second in 11.36, while Connecticut’s Trisha-Ann Kendrick finished third in the heat with a time of 11.40.
While Pemberton was the top finisher in her semi-final heat, she finished fourth overall in the group as Louisiana State University’s Samantha Henry, Kenyanna Wilson and Takeia Pinckney claimed the top spots.
Representing Kittitian men over the weekend was former Beach Allen Primary sprinter, Brijesh ‘BJ’ Lawrence, who is currently in his freshman year at Nebraska’s Dana College.
Lawrence competed at the NAIA Championships and started his event off on the right foot by cruising past the 2009 winning mark in the 100m with a preliminary round time of 10.40 seconds.
It was a performance that was quickly repeated in the same session as he ran a winning time of 20.99 seconds in the preliminaries for the Men’s 200m, bettering the 2009 winning time of 21.06.
Lawrence then cruised through the semi-final rounds in both the 100m and 200m and would go on to win the 100m finals in a time of 10.43 over Dickinson State’s Jamal Forbes (10.48) and Baker College’s Kome Okiomah (10.49).
The exhausting weekend of racing eventually caught up to Lawrence in the 200m finals as he came in sixth overall with a time of 21.44, but the competition still showed that the former American football player continues to make strides in his athletics career.
