Lincoln University senior Mandela Clifford capped his collegiate athletics career with one of the best performances ever by a Saint Lucian sprinter this past weekend. In the correct conditions, his run would have earned him a berth at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England. Unfortunately for the 26-year-old from Gros Islet, a graduate of Castries Comprehensive, conditions were anything but right for the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Neta & Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl in Pueblo, Colorado.
Mandela had run a windy 10.29 seconds in the men's 100m in 2011, backed by a stiff breeze of 3.7 metres per second. But his fastest wind-legal time coming into Nationals was 10.41, with a precisely-legal wind of 2.0 m/s at the Mid-American conference championships, where he finished third. In the semifinals in Pueblo, Mandela was fourth in Heat 2, but his time of 10.35 again had high winds, this time 3.2 m/s. Still, his time put him seventh overall in qualifying, one of three Lincoln Blue Tigers to make the final, with conference champion Ravel Grey and sophomore Romel Lewis.
In the final, Lewis blaze to a time of 10.12 to take the NCAA DII title. Rushane Scott of eventual first-time men's champions Adams State also crossed the line in 10.12, and Grey's 10.26 left him in seventh. Mandela, meanwhile, was fifth in 10.21, 3 hundredths of a second inside the B standard for the Olympics. But the wind gauge read 5.7 m/s, nearly three times the allowable speed for the purposes of record-setting and major meet qualification. It was Mandela's fastest run under any conditions, and he is absolutely certain he can do it again. Legally.
Mandela picked up four points and All-American status to help the Lincoln men's team to second place at the NCAA Division II Championships. Lincoln scored 73 team points to finish as the national runner-up. The Blue Tigers were just four points shy of Adams State, which scored 77 to win the overall title. Now, with his collegiate career over, the son of a former national rugby player and a national netballer is hoping that he can trade in the dark blue of LU for the cerulian blue of Saint Lucia, and get the opportunity to once again attack the 10.24 mark.
Born on National Day (13 December) in 1986, Mandela was one of Saint Lucia's most talented junior track athletes ever. An under-17 100m finalist at the CARIFTA Games in 2002, Mandela was a national champion in Saint Lucia at the age of 16. Between 2003 and 2004, he was unbeaten on home soil. Qualified for the 2004 World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, he suffered through two years of indifferent form, partly down to a persistent hamstring injury, before earning a scholarship to MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas in 2008.
At MidAmerica, Mandela was also successful off the track, making the Dean’s List with a 3.93 GPA, before transferring in 2009 to Lincoln, Missouri, alma mater of Saint Lucian compatriots Fabian Felix and Maxime Charlemagne. He would achieve big things for the Blue Tigers, including a 4x100m NCAA title in 2011, a Saint Lucia National Record of 21.49 for the indoors 200m, and multiple All-American honours. Now, as he moves on to the next chapter of his life, Mandela will be hoping that he can continue doing achieving success, but now for Saint Lucia.
nice work
ReplyDelete