The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net SHE has made the transition from one division and one school to another but Tia Rolle's goal is still the same - to be one of the next female sprinters to watch out for. Now at Alabama State University, Rolle completed her junior indoor season as a double champion earlier this month at the Southwestern Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama. She led the Lady Hornets to their fourth consecutive title by taking the 60 metres in 7.43 seconds and the 200m in 23.85. Head coach Ritchie Beene said Rolle did an outstanding job. "We knew in the 60 it was going to be a battle, and she got out there, battled back and caught (Tiffany George of Southern, winning by one-one hundredth of a second) at the end," Beene said. "In the 200, she was a few tenths of a second off the SWAC record. The double win was good for her." Both SWAC records are held by Tremedia Brice at 7.32 in the 60m and 23.64 in the 200. Despite falling short of breaking the records, Rolle said she was just elated to come out as the double champion. "Every time I stepped on the track this indoor season I had a personal best," she said. "I went into the championship with 7.49 and I ran 7.43 and 23.85 in the 200m so just to be able to PR (personal best times) every time was wonderful." Having transferred to the NCAA Division II Lincoln (Mo.) where she excelled over the past two seasons, Rolle said she's eager for the challenge that lays ahead of her the next two years at the D1 school. "The competition is very much more intense but staying focused and working hard is what I intend to do," said Rolle, a graduate of St Augustine's College. Although she has ran on various junior national teams, including Carifta, Rolle has her sights set on a lofty goal this year - the Olympic Games in London, England. "In order to get there, I know there are a few adjustments I have to make," she said. "My mother always said sometimes you have to crawl before you can walk so starting off with just the relay and working my way up to an individual race is a start." She won't know if she will attain that goal until she comes home for the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations' Scotiabank National Championships in June. But she continued her preparation over the weekend when she anchored ASU to victory in the women's 4 x 100m relay at the Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. This weekend, however, she will get her first taste of an individual meet in her new environment when she contests the sprint double at the Alabama Relays at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.