Alcide Sets New Heptathlon Mark

AUSTIN, Texas - Makeba Alcide has established her fourth St Lucia National Record for the 2011 track and field season, the University of Arkansas sophomore placing fourth in women's Heptathlon at the 84th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Track Stadium in Austin. Along the way, the former CARIFTA silver medallist established personal-best marks in six out of the seven events in which she competed, and she has qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Makeba started with a fourth-place time of 14.05 in the 100m hurdles. Unfortunately the 3.6 metre-per-second wind meant she did not break her National Record for that event, but it will go down as a personal-best mark. She also set a PB in the 200m dash, 25.12 placing her eighth in the half-lap race. Her height of 1.73m is below what she did indoors earlier this year, but it is her best mark outdoors and placed her third on this occasion. And her Shot Put mark of 11.88m left her in fourth place overall after Day 1.

On Day 2, Makeba threw the javelin 37.06m, 30cm shy of her previous best performance. She leapt to a 10th-place mark of 5.47m in Long Jump, her best ever effort. And she rounded out the seven-event competition with a fantastic run of 2:18.03 in the 800m.

Overall, Makeba ended with 5,543 points, bettering the 5,172 she compiled last year at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Under-23 Championships. Lance Harter, head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, was full of praise for the young St Lucian: "What a fantastic first heptathlon of the season for Makeba," he said. "Of the seven events, she had six personal bests which is rarified air because of all the variables that could go wrong during two days of competition. This is a score that will rank in the NCAA and get her to the national meet."

This is just Makeba's first Heptathlon for the year, having set a National Record of 14.11 in the open Hurdles last weekend. She also set records for the 60m Hurdles and Pentathlon during the indoor season this year.