Sabriya in action.
By BRENT STUBBS
Chief Sports Editor
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
SABRIYA Farquharson couldn’t ask for a better way to end her freshman year at the College of Saint Benedict.
The explosive 5-foot, 4-inch long and triple jumper, who graduated from St Augustine’s College in 2023, was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Rookie of the Year on May 16.
The 18-year-old Farquharson said from the time she enrolled in college and went to try out for the track team, they welcomed her with open arms, making her feel like she was “a part of the family and a sisterhood.”
Whenever they got ready to compete, it was like a devotional session where they were given a word to motivate the team. She said they used words like “trust, motivation or family,” for example, which was meant
to help boost the athletes in their performances.
“I remember one time I was competing, the word was trust and that day, we were inspired to trust in ourselves, trust in our team-mates and trust that whatever you were doing, was the best that you could do,” Farquharson recalled. “So that was one of my motivations because I felt a part of the family.”
Leaving her family, including her parents Barbara and Silvan Farquharson and four brothers Devon, Silvan II, Simeon, and Samuel Farquharson, she said she headed to school without an athletic scholarship.
She went there with an injured right ankle that required her to wear a brace indoors. During the season, she noticed her strength had eventually got stronger outdoors and she soon stopped using the brace. “It was painful, but I didn’t have to jump with a brace or anything,” she said.
“Eventually the pain just went away and I was able to jump with ease. I started to feel much better.”
It showed in her performance as she turned in a season’s best of 18-feet, 5-inches or 5.61 metres, which was close to her lifetime best of 18-8 3/4 (5.71m), which she achieved to qualify for the CARIFTA Games in Kingston, Jamaica in 2022. However, she fell short of the medal stand, placing fourth.
That was the turning point for Farquharson, who went on to have a successful outdoor season that culminated with her earning the MIAC Rookie of the Year award.
She was named CSB’s first-ever MIAC Outdoor Track and Field Rookie of the Year after winning the long jump in 5.61m – 18-05, a mark that ranks second all-time in program history.
She also earned honorable mention All-MIAC by placing sixth in the triple jump in 10.78M - 35-04.50.
With her efforts in the jumps, she helped CSB finish third in the MIAC Championship with a programme-best 136.33 points. “I felt good about it because I came from the point where I was saying I probably won’t be going back to compete again because of the injury to being one of the top athletes in Minnesota,” she said.
“That was a blessing. It was one of the positive things that came out of my whole season. I knew what I had to do to get there and I had a lot of supportive team-mates, who were there to help me to get through every track meet.”
Unselfishly, she dedicated the award to her team-mates as they “treated me like family.”
Home for a week’s break to spend some time with her “true family,” Farquharson said she got to experience some of the things she missed when she left to attend Saint Benedict.
“If you don’t have balance in your life, you won’t make it,” said Farquharson, a devout Christian who worships with her “actual family” at Five Porches Ministries.
Farquharson will be leaving to return to Minneosata on Sunday, so she won’t get to spend the full Father’s Day celebrations with her father, Apostle Silvan Farquharson. But she wished him and all fathers in the country a Happy Father’s Day.
On her return to Saint Benedict, Farquharson will begin her training for her sophomore season.
Hopefully, it will spin off from where she left off, undoubtedly, without any injuries.
“I hope to achieve my lifetime best as early as I can,” she stressed. “If I can do that early, I know I will be able to go out and have a great season. I’m really looking forward to it.”
While competing in track as a long jumper and occasionally as a triple jumper, Farquharson will continue to pursue her degree in chemistry. She said her education is just as important as her track and she doesn’t intend to neglect either of them.
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