BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - OUTSTANDING Collegiate track and field athlete Omhunique Browne has decided to represent St. Kitts and Nevis instead of her native home, the United States of America.
Despite being born in the USA, Browne is eligible to compete for the twin-island Federation because it is the birthplace of her father.
Browne is the first Pasadena City College female athlete to have won two CCCAA State titles in the same meet. She achieved this feat last weekend.
According to a report in the Pasanda Star News, Browne won the 100 and 200 meters at the College of San Mateo and set two school records this season. She was also named the South Coast Conference Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
"I want to focus on school," she said. "I understand that at four-year schools I will be a student/athlete and right now I want to focus on school. I love track, but school is a priority.
"It will be hard, but I'm sacrificing for something bigger and better."
After suffering a stress fracture in her pelvis during her senior year at San Marino High School, she is now looking to bounce back after missing a year.
"It was not the senior year she wanted, so she was eager to get out there to show what she had," Pasadena coach Larry Wade said. "I was constantly pulling her back. Her desire to win is extreme. As long as she takes it one step at a time and is not overzealous, not only will she have a successful career, but a long career."
The 18-year-old suffered the fracture at the beginning of her 2012 season, thinking it was a chronic hamstring injury. The previous season, her junior year, she reached the CIF State Meet in the hurdles and was named the Pasadena Star-News Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
"I cried," she recalled. "It was hard not being able to go back to State again.
"I don't like to think about it because it was my worst season. But now how I look at it, I was happy I took time off. It was the best freshman year."
Nearly every time she raced this year, she set a personal best. She won her first 100m race from lane one, running an 11:63. She eventually ran an 11:30 at the Conference Meet, the fastest community college time in the nation and a school record. She won the State Title with an 11:34.
She did practically the same thing in the 200. She went into the 23s for the first time, running a 23:77 at the Pasadena Games. She won the Conference title with a nation-leading and school record 23:46 and the State Title with a 23.97.
"She is so versatile," Wade said. "I tell people she's a hurdler, not a sprinter. They say, `What?' She's actually a hurdler that can sprint."
Wade compared her to one of his first athletes he began coaching, Olympic gold medallist Carmelita Jeter.
"Fortunately for me, I got the opportunity to get to know her and she decided to trust me and come to PCC. It's been a blessing ever since," he said.
Browne said the key race wasn't that first 100m run at Cal State Fullerton, but running against the pros in the 200 at Pasadena.
"I had coach Wade's pro athlete (Aareon Payne) pushing me," she said. "If it was not for her, I would not have gotten into the 23s."
"There are not a lot of athletes like her," Wade said. "She definitely has the opportunity to follow in the shoes of some big athletes. As long as she stays patient and matures, she has the opportunity for a very, very, very bright future."
"I always dreamed that I might represent where my dad's from, so that is what I will want to do," she said. "My goal is to be like Allyson Felix some day. I do not want that to be the same team and have that kind of pressure."
Wade said that Browne may be the best female track and field athlete in school history. Only five other PCC athletes have previously won state titles.
