Saint Lucia’s fastest woman ever has had herself a busy weekend, leading 12 compatriots in action at indoor meets across the USA and in Europe, most of them at the collegiate level.
Julien Alfred set three national records between Friday and Saturday. The University of Texas sophomore twice resetting her 60m national record at the Dr Martin Luther King Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But she kicked off the weekend with her indoor 200m debut, storming round to win in 23.50, improving on Nyanka Joseph’s 24.15-second run back in 2015.
On Saturday, Alfred ran 7.13 second in the 60m preliminaries, the fastest time in the NCAA for 2020. In the final, she went faster still, stopping the clock at 7.10 seconds. It was good enough only for second place, but aside from lowering the national record and the Longhorns school record, her mark became the seventh-fastest collegian ever. According to the USTFCCCA, she also produced the fastest collegiate run ever in the month of January. It was also an Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States record, and the third-fastest all-time by an Under-20 athlete.
Also at the MLK Invitational on Saturday, Saint Lucia’s Mechaela Hyacinth (Azusa Pacific) ran 7.53 seconds to finish fifth in Heat 1, and 13th overall in the women’s 60m dash.
A third national record was set on the weekend. Giovanni Alfred won the men’s 60m hurdles in 8.19 seconds at the I-55 Triangular, hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill. Gio (based on performances going into the weekend) would move into the world top 50 with this result, which supplants the national record he set in December. The Washington University in St. Louis freshman turns 19 in September of this year.
On the pro circuit, Jeannelle Scheper turned in her second consecutive strong outing, as she cleared 1.89m to win the women’s high jump at Wuppertal, Germany, in the Wuppertaler Springermeeting. The Netherlands-based Scheper last week cleared a new indoor personal best of 1.92m to win at the Leichtathletikhallen Manfort in Leverkusen, Germany. It was her best result under any conditions since 2015, as she gets her Tokyo 2020 campaign underway.
Several other Saint Lucians competed in the college ranks in the USA. Kevin Norville (Washburn University) won his third triple jump event in his third meet of the season with a mark of 14.63m in the Bearcat Open at Northwest Missouri.
A trio of Copin State athletes took to the oversized track at the McCravy Memorial, hosted by the University of Kentucky. Kimani Alphonse ran 57.13 for the women’s 400m to finish 19th overall. Randy Serville finished fifth overall in the men’s 800m run, clocking in at 1:55.94, and 10th overall in the men’s 600m, a time of 1:20.68. Udoka Constantine ran 2:15.96 to finish 10th overall for the women’s 800m, after winning her 600m heat in 1:37.52, a new PB, placing her 17th overall.
Zadie St. Louis was second at Kansas University’s Jayhawk Classic on Friday, the Butler Community College freshman running 2:24.30 in the women’s 800m.
Three athletes ran for Essex Community College at the Coach I Open at Franklin & Marshall’s Schnader Field House, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Samara Edward (1:02.15) was fourth in women’s 400m. Carl Darkes (7.12) was fourth in men’s 60m. And former Youth Olympics 100m semifinalist Shelton St. Rose (57.42) was 39th in men’s 400m.
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Let’s hope she goes all the way to the highest level
Congrats