Ace runner Kineke Alexander hurt

Vincentian sport enthusiasts may be wondering what is happening with this country’s top female middle distance athlete Kineke Alexander.

After a relatively good performance last year mainly on the US Collegiate circuit, Alexander, considered this country’s brightest prospect on the international athletics scene, has not been in the news recently.{{more}}

An injury, a strained hamstring to her left leg has restricted the 21-year-old Alexander’s appearances for Iowa State University.

She entered the 2007 track season as the reigning NCAA Indoor 400M champ, but was unable to repeat that stellar performance. Alexander, though, was good enough to clock 51:40 seconds to finish second in her effort to retain the title.

Speaking to SEARCHLIGHT last Sunday afternoon from her US base, Alexander said, “the injury at the start of the outdoor season affected me, but that time was still good just coming off an injury”.

One of Iowa’s most decorated athletes, Alexander won both the 200 and 400M at the Big Ten Conference track meet recently, to walk off with the title of “Athlete of the Meet”.

In addition, Alexander from Glenside in the Mesopotamia Valley, had the accolade of “Regional Athlete of the Year” bestowed on her.

A senior at Iowa, Alexander also captured the MVP award for the year for that institution.

“Right now I am on the mend, working to get stronger as I have regionals, nationals coming up soon”, she added.

“My next goal is to be part of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines squad to the PanAm and World Championships later this year”, Alexander, a former student of the St. Joseph’s Convent Marriaqua projected.

The Pan American Games are scheduled for Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in July, while the World Championships are set for Osaka, Japan in August.

Voted International Athlete of the Year, at the 2006 National Sports Awards Ceremony held in February, Alexander gained a bronze medal in the women’s 400M at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia in July, when she clocked 54.02 seconds. In the process, Alexander became the first Vincentian to win a medal at CAC seniors.

But her fastest time in her pet event was her 51.35 seconds clocking at the US NCAA outdoor championships in Sacramento also recorded last year.

In the process she set a new St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ record in the event, shaving 0.36 seconds off the old mark of 51.71 set in June 2005.

Apart from her exploits on the track, Alexander is chasing down a degree in History and International Studies. She is set to graduate next year.