Spence to compete for Jamaica in XXI Central American and Carribbean Games
July 19, 2010100-meter hurdles set for Sunday
MAYAGÜEZ, Puerto Rico— After winning her national title last month, Adams State College hurdling sensation Indira Spence (Trelawny, Jamaica) will represent Jamaica in the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games on Sunday here at the Centro American Stadium.
Nearly 5,000 athletes from 31 countries are expected to compete in the Olympic-style event that started Sunday, a day late because of a tornado that hit the island nation’s western city.
Spence will compete in the 100-meter hurdles on Sunday with semifinal heats slated to begin at 9:55 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time (7:55 a.m. Mountain Daylight). The finals are slated for 7:30 that evening.
The games, held since 1926, are contested every four years, typically in the middle even year of the Olympic quadrennial and are designed to provide a step between sub -region Games held the first year following a Summer Olympics and the Pan American Games, held the year before the Summer Olympics.
Spence, a Grizzly sophomore, earned this international opportunity when she clocked an Adams State school-record time of 13.05 seconds to win the event at the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association’s National Senior Trials on June 27 at National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. She won the race by 0.12 seconds.
Earlier in 2010, Spence finished second in the NCAA Division II National Championships in May with a time of 13.15 seconds and had earlier posted a time of 13.13 seconds to win the Invitational section of the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. the month prior.
During the indoor season, Spence, a 9-time All-American, won the NCAA Division II 60-meter hurdle title with a school-record time of 8.05 seconds. She was also named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Central Region Track Athlete of the Year during both the indoor and outdoor campaigns.
