US sprinter Carmelita Jeter is excited about competing in Jamaica today. "I have never been to Jamaica before,” she told a Penn Relays post-race press conference last Saturday. “I have a lot of Jamaican fans and I am looking forward to the food and just having fun.”
The 2009 Berlin World Games bronze medalist is scheduled to run today at the Jamaica International Invitational in Kingston. Last weekend at Penns, she anchored the victorious USA Blue Women’s 4x1 relay team that beat Jamaica in a world-leading 42.74 secs.
Commenting on her team’s victory over Jamaica, Jeter said, “Even though they always say it is Jamaica against the USA, there are a lot of Jamaican fans that scream for me also. They are just good people and I am excited about going down there [Jamaica] to run,” said Jeter.
The California-born Jeter also said, “I’ve heard that the stadium is alive, just like it is here [Franklin Field], so hopefully I can run a good race.
The 30-yr-old 100m specialist had a superb 2009 season, in which she ran a personal best (10.64 secs) several weeks after taking bronze in the 100m (10.90) at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin behind the Jamaican duo of Shelly-Ann Fraser (10.73) and Kerron Stewart (10.75).
Jeter will meet Stewart in today's race.