Semoy Hackett and Annie Alexander will be seeking gold when the 2011 NCAA Division One Outdoor Track and Field Championships get under way at the Drake Stadium, Des Moines, Iowa tomorrow. The duo is among 11 T&T athletes who will be representing their universities at the premier Collegiate meet in the world. Hackett will do battle in the Women's 100m and 200m and will be among one of the favourites to win. The 22-year-old has the second quickest time of 10.98s and 22.42s in both events and won a back-to-back sprint double in 2009 and 2010 when she competed for Lincoln University at the Division Two Championships.
Hackett will be seeking to emulate the feat of her fellow Tobagonian and former LSU student Kelly Ann Baptiste, who won the 100m gold in 2008. Alexander will be making her third trip to the NCAA finals and will be aiming to better the bronze she won in the Women's Discus in 2009. The Tennessee student seems on course after setting a new national record of 58.58m to top the qualifiers at the NCAA Eastern Regionals on May 28. She will also contest the Women's Shot Put. Wichita State's Tonya Nero will run in the Women's 10,000m and will go to Iowa with the second fastest qualifier, clocking a T&T record of 33:11:71.
Hackett's schoolmates and comrades Kyron Blaise and Ade Alleyne Forte will also compete. Blaise will line up in the Men's Triple Jump while Alleyne-Forte will be part of his school's 4x400m team. Kai Selvon (Auburn) and Zwede Hewitt (Baylor) qualified for the women's 200m and men's 400m events respectively. Selvon is also listed to run in Auburn's 4x400m while Hewitt is in Baylor's 4x100m and 4x400m outfits. Britney St Louis will also be in action for Florida State in the Women's 4x100m while Jovon Toppin will compete with Florida's men's 4x400m squad. Nyoka Giles and Aleena Brooks are members of Minnesota's women's 4x100m team. At the 2010 NCAA Championships, Kentucky's Rondel Sorillo won the Men's 200m. Olympic gold medallist Hasely Crawford was T&T's first winner at the meet, taking the men's 100-yard gold in 1975, the year before he sped to victory in the men's 100m at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.
T&T NCAA Winners
Hasely Crawford- 1975-East Michigan-Men's 100syards- 9.35 sec
Ato Boldon-1995-UCLA-M 200m-20.24 sec/ 1996- M 100m- 9.92 sec
Candace Scott-2003-Florida-W Hammer-69.79m/2004- W Hammer-68.83m
Richard Thompson-2006-LSU- M 4x100-38.44 sec
Richard Thompson-2008- M 100- 10.12/M 4x100-38.42
Kelly Ann Baptiste-2008-LSU- M 100-11.20sec
Rondell Sorillo- 2010-Kentucky- M 200-20.36 sec
