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Photo courtesy of University of
South Carolina Athletics Dept.
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Kierre Beckles, the 21-yr-old Barbados women’s national 100m hurdles record holder is on a mission this season. The Pineland native, a junior at the University of South Carolina, broke her compatriot Andrea Blackett’s 6-yr-old record of 13.39secs in 2009 as an 18-yr-old student at Central Arizona College (Central Arizona), setting the new mark at 13.25. Since then, she has not eased off her assault on the event, and posted 13.20 at the 2011 Penn Relays on April 30, for second place in the College Women 100m hurdles Championship of America race.
At the SEC Championship held on May 15, Beckles further reduced her record to 13.10. Commenting on her SEC record-breaking run, Beckles said that she was pleased and felt she could go much faster. “I feel good about my performance, but there is more to come; the season is not over yet. I am here to stay and I am capable of going to the top,” said the confident Beckles.
The Lester Vaughn School (Barbados) graduate also believes she will break the 13-seconds barrier in the hurdles in the next few weeks as she competes in the NCAA Regional with the hope of getting to the NCAA Championship.
Carifta Experience
Like most elite Caribbean athletes, Beckles competed at the Carifta Games and was the 2008 Carifta Austin Sealy Award winner who set a new under-20 girls 100m hurdles record at 13.43. She was also a finalist at the 2009 World Junior Championships, where she finished 8th in 13.96. Regarding her World Junior performance, Beckles said, “I was ranked #3 in the world in the hurdles, but I was injured for the finals. I had the experience and should have done better because that was my second World Juniors. I attacked the first three hurdles and then backed-off because of my injury.”
Beckles who started running track as a 7-yr-old said she started doing the hurdles on a dare. “Back in 2001-2002 I was at a training session in primary school when someone challenged me to run the hurdles. I accepted the challenge and I went over the hurdles with perfect techniques, my coach at the time saw my performance and the rest is history.”
The athlete Beckles admires most is US Olympics champion Gail Devers. “One day my aunt saw me doing the hurdlers and she said my style reminded her of Gail Devers.” The curious Beckles wanted to know who Gail Devers was, so she researched her and got tapes of her. “Once I saw Gail Devers run, I just couldn’t get her out of my mind. She is a phenomenal woman and the only person I wanted to be like,” she said.
Journey to South Carolina
After the 2008 Carifta Games in St. Kitts, Beckles said that she was heavily recruited by Louisiana State University (LSU) and Johnson C. Smith University, and that LSU was instrumental in getting her to Central Arizona College. She completed her two-year tenure at Central Arizona by becoming the NJCAA 2010 national hurdles champion in a championship record time of 13.14. She then enrolled at the University of South Carolina, where she is now on the verge of claiming more All-American honors.
“At Central Arizona I did a lot of strength training and I ran lots of 100, 200 and 300 in practice. I did not do much speed training. Compared to South Carolina, I am now doing both strength and speed training. I am also working on my mechanics and techniques for the hurdles. I have a flaw in my technique and once I can fix that problem, my first sub-13.00secs will become a reality,” Beckles said.
The young lady who turned 21 on this past Saturday (May 21) has a very busy summer planned, starting with the NCAA Regional this week, followed by the NCAA Championships, the CAC Senior Championships in Puerto Rico, and culminating with the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, which is her ultimate goal.
Beckles lists shopping for shoes as her favorite pastime, along with working the PlayStation 3 (PS3) Beijing 2008 video games to relax her. She listens to Soca music to get her mind ready for competition.