media_artricles :: 2016

T&T’s Roberts reigns as heptathlon queen in US

T&T's Khemani Roberts of Coppin State University put together a spectacular couple of days to cop the women's heptathlon at the 2016 ECAC/IC4A Track and Field Championships at Weaver Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey on the weekend. Roberts placed first, racking up 4,790 total points defeating the runner-up by 24 points on Saturday.

On the opening day, Roberts led the field of 13 with 2,951 points through four events. The freshman was tied for first in the high jump at 1.66 metres and placed second in both the 200m (25.53 seconds) and shot put (10.65m) while 10th in the 100m hurdles (15.84) on Friday. The following day, she placed second in the javelin throw (29.17m), third in the long jump (5.48m) and eighth in the 800m (2:30.70).

Last week, Roberts won the heptathlon with 4,539 points at the Mid-Eastern Athletic Championships (MEAC) Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Roberts was back in action on Sunday, competing in the women's high jump event and placed eighth with a mark of 1.67m. Her teammate Deandra Daniel, a senior, failed to clear the bar during the competition.

On that same day over on the track, Coppin State junior Mark London 4x400m relay team finished eighth with a time of 3:22.36. London also lined up in the 800m preliminaries and his time of 1:52.99, placed him in 21st position overall, not good enough for him to advance to the next round.

The T&T long distance runnier (1:49.30) is currently ranked 47th in the nation in the men's 800m which he ran at the Florida Relays earlier this season while both T&T women jumpers rank amongst the nation's best in the high jump event. Daniel ranks 19th at 1.78 m recorded at Penn Relays while Roberts sits at 28th nationally with a measure of 1.77 m at Morgan State Legacy Meet.

Coppin State's regular season concludes with the upcoming NCAA Division I Preliminary East Region Championships in Jacksonville, FL beginning on May 26.

Also on the weekend at the Sun Belt Outdoor Championship in Lafayette, Louisiana, Chelsea Anika Charles of the University of Arkansas Little Rock bagged a bronze medal in the 100m. Running in a minus wind of 0.1 she clocked 11.58 to cross third.

The Simplex Sports Club sprinter finished fourth in the 200m in a time of 24.03 seconds, to set a new personal best which keeps her second on the Trojans' all-time list.

She later anchored her team to gold in the 4x100m relay, shattering the school record in the event, finishing in 45.22, 0.81 seconds faster than their own previous school record they had set twice earlier this year.

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