WEST PALM BEACH, Florida – The University of The Bahamas (UB) Mingoes cross country teams had to fight through a thunderstorm weather delay to have several improved individual performances at the Keiser University Flagship Invitational Friday at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Lhevinne Joseph turned in the best performance overall. He finished 50th out of 107 competitors in the men’s division with a time of 17 minutes and 24.82 seconds in the five kilometer (km) event. This was a more than a minute improvement over his previous cross country race at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) on September 1. At that event, he ran 18:35.9.
The men’s team finished ninth out of 10 teams with 253 points and the women’s team finished 11th with 318 points. In the team event, the lower the score the better performance of the team.
Jackson Ozias finished 80th in 18:47.57, Dennis Williamson finished in the 83rd spot in 18:55.57, Kenold Jean finished 92nd in 19:26 and Donya Roberts, known more for the 400 meters (m), took the 101st spot in 21:22.73 – almost a one minute improvement over his FAU meet performance (22:16.4).
The top five runners from each team receive a score that counts toward the team
performance. In cross country, the lower the score the better the performance. Both teams competed in the 5km event.
“Overall it was great improvement with both teams,” said UB Mingoes Head Coach Ednal Rolle. “Our top male Joseph ran a personal best by more than a minute and that was really fantastic for him being a middle distance runner and moving over to cross country.”
On the women’s side, Lakeicia Lewis had the best performance for UB as she finished 91st out of 121 competitors with a time of 23:31.85 which represents almost a two-minute improvement over the FAU cross country meet three weeks ago (25:54.8). Fridline Augustine took the 111th spot in 26:22.42 – another two-minute improvement from the FAU meet (28:46.9); Sienna Mackey took the 115th spot in 28:47.24 which is almost a four-minute improvement over 32:16.4 from the FAU meet. Kaiya Cambridge took the 116th spot in 29:02.99 and Kendera Munroe was 118th in 30:21.8.
“All of the women turned in personal bests for this meet,” said Rolle. “That shows that what we have been doing is paying off and helped them to improve.”
The women’s team amassed 318 points to finish 11th.
Both teams next compete at 7 a.m. on September 30 at the UB Cross Country Meet, starting at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
