Three personal-best marks including a meet record, have Saint Lucia’s Makeba Alcide out in front at the South-eastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships which got underway earlier this week.
After the opening day and through four events at the Audrey J Walton Stadium, the University of Arkansas senior is leading the women’s heptathlon with 3,756 points, which improves upon her own school record for a day-one score. Heptathlon concluded with three further events on Friday.
Alcide, an alumna of St Joseph’s Convent, opened the day with a personal-best, national record and Organization of Eastern Caribbean States record performance in the 100 metre hurdles. Running in the second of five sections, she ran to a time of 13.60, which was worth 1,036 points. That surpassed her previous lifetime best of 13.87 which she set competing for Saint Lucia at the 2012 NACAC Under-23 Championships in Guanajuato, Mexico.
The Razorback senior followed up with a record-breaking effort in the high jump. Alcide won the event with a final clearance of 1.88 m establishing the SEC Championships meet record in the process. She replaced the old mark of 1.86 m set by fellow countrywoman Levern Spencer in 2007. Her performance also broke the Audrey J Walton Stadium facility record and equalled the school mark she set earlier this season at the John McDonnell Combined Events.
Competing in wet conditions, Alcide had a day’s best throw of 12.42 m to finish third in shot put. The throw equalled the third best throw of her career and the best she’s had during an SEC Championship meet.
The 23-year-old closed out the day with another personal-best effort, this time at 200 m. Running in section one of two, the Saint Lucian posted a time of 24.31, to replace her previous best of 24.38, which she ran earlier this year at Texas Relays.
At the end of day one of the heptathlon, Alcide leds the field by 201 points with Erica Bougard of Mississippi State in second place with 3,555 points.
“I had an excellent day one with two PR’s and a consistent high jump,” said Alcide. “I was a little off in the shot put because of the weather. I had to throw in my tennis shoes which I had never done before, but it was a good day overall. My aim is to qualify for the
World Championships and I’m on pace to do that. Hopefully, the weather is good to get a good long jump. I just need to stay consistent.”
Comments are closed.