T&T's Zakiya Denoon breezed past all competitors to cop a gold medal in the women's 60 metres event at the New York City (NYC) Gotham Cup at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island on Friday evening.
The Monroe College sophomore clocked 7.50 seconds to easily win the dash as her closest challenger was some 0.19 seconds behind.
Denoon of Belle Garden, Tobago, opened up the indoor season last weekend with a second-place finish at the Towson Invitational at the Armory in New York.
She earned the first spot at nationals with a second-place time of 7.45 in the 60-meter dash. She had won her preliminary heat prior to her podium finish.
The five-foot-ten runner's performance helped her team to place ninth at the event and was one of five runners from Monroe to qualify for nationals.
Denoon later competed in the 4x400m relay and her team placed 10th in 4:05.96.
Her schoolmate, Dawnel Collymore, a local middle-distance runner was 13th overall in the 1,000m race.
The freshman at Monroe College finished in a time of 3:03.92, placing fifth in heat two.
Also competing at the event were local sprinters Andre Marcano and Haysean Cowie-Clarke. Both faced the starter in the men's 60m, Marcano of Central Park Track Club (New York) New Balance crossed in 6.85 to place fourth and Cowie-Clarke, a senior at Coppin State University, was eighth in 6.98.