The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AS he prepares for his professional stint, Exuma native Samson Colebrooke is trying to blaze his own destiny among the world’s elite male sprinters.

Colebrooke, who ran a season’s best of 10.01 seconds in the 100 metres on April 9 at the Cheney Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, came back on Wednesday night and clocked 10.28 for fourth place at the Emory Final Qualifier at the Emory University Track in Atlanta.

Representing the Atlanta Track Club, Colebrooke trailed Chris Royster of Altis, who won in his season’s best of 10.07; Atlanta Track Club’s Mario Heslop, second in 10.15 and Ojie Dayo Edoburun of Adidas, who got third in 10.28.

“I was happy with my time,” Colebrook said. “Other than my opener, all season long, my body hasn’t been working with me. I had some minor glitches here and there.

“Over the past few weeks, I wasn’t able to run at top speed without feeling pain in my leg. In this race, I actually ran without feeling anything. I got off to a bad start. I was actually in seventh place, but I am able to move and catch the pack.”

Colebrooke, a graduate of Purdue University, is now training with the Atlanta Track Club with coach Oneil White. He said while he’s making the adjustment from the collegiate to the pro ranks, he is just trying to get his body in sync with the vigorous training he’s getting.

“This was just a race to see where I’m at after not racing in four weeks,” Colebrooke said. “This was just to see if we need to accelerate our speed or we need to slow it down.

“I actually messed up at the start of the race. So there’s a lot of room for improvement, but I’m happy about where I’m at and what I need to do to prepare for the rest of the season.”

This weekend, Colebrooke is expected to be back in Jacksonville, Florida in an American Track League meet at the North Florida University where he considers them to have the best “track facility” and where he “loves competing there”.

So far this year, Colebrooke has run the fastest of any Bahamian male sprinters and was followed closely by Grand Bahamian Terrance Jones, a freshman at Texas Tech, who posted his season’s best of 10.09 on April 16 at the Percy Beard Track in Gainsville, Florida.

At the same meet that Colebrooke ran 10.01, Ian Kerr clocked his seasons best of 10.14 to set the stage for what could be an exciting showdown at the Bahamas Associations of Athletic Association’s National Championships next month.

Colebrooke, having qualified for the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July, said he hopes to chase after his first major international medal on the global stage, but he also wants to pursue the Bahamian national record of 9.91 that Dixie State University women’s track and field head coach Derrick Atkins established as a silver medalist at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan in 2007.

“There are a lot of guys chasing that record, so we will see who will get it first,” said the 25-year-old Colebrooke, who encouraged everybody to stay healthy and get their bodies in the right gear to compete.

“It’s going to be a dog fight. You have Ian and Terrance both running well and with me in the mix, the competition is growing in the Bahamas with the male sprint, so I believe the record will fall quickly.”

And, between the three and any other male competitors, Colebrooke said the Bahamas should be able to field another 4 x 100m relay team that could contend for a medal as well.