Personal-Best Marks for St Lucian Ladies

St Lucian track and field athletes competed at the Tyson Invitational and Iowa State Classic this weekend in the United States. Although none came away with a win, there were a number of positive developments, boding well for the remainder of the 2012 season.

Missouri State sophomore Pernell Joseph turned in a pair of career-best times in Ames, Iowa. Pernell ran 7.58 seconds in the 60m dash. Her time was just .03 outside of the top-five all-time performers at MSU, including Michelle Baptiste's and Jineill Vite's National Record.

Pernell went on to finish second in the 200m dash, again with an all-time best mark. Her 24.40 put her two places ahead of Lady Bear freshman and compatriot Merica Moncherry, whose fourth-place time of 24.78 also represented a best-ever indoor run for the 21-year-old.

Competing at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, University of Arkansas junior Makeba Alcide did the women's 60m Hurdles, Long Jump and High Jump. In the latter event, she met compatriot Jeannelle Scheper, a University of South Carolina sophomore.

Although she did not advance from the 60H preliminaries, Makeba's time of 8.75 seconds was a hundredth of a second off the National Record she set two weeks ago. Makeba crossed the five flights of hurdles and finished fourth in Heat 5 and 23rd overall.

In Long Jump, Makeba established a new personal record, clearing 5.66m (18'7") and ending 14th. Her new mark eclipses the 5.51 performance she laid down in January 2011, though last year she did a windy 5.94 outdoors at the John Jacobs Invitational.

In High Jump, neither Makeba nor Jeannelle would have been excited by their performances. Jeannelle cleared 1.78m (5'10 ") and Makeba turned in a 1.68m (5'6") to finish in fifth and ninth place, respectively.