By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

SPRINTER Trent Ford and middle distance runner Akaree Roberts are the two latest members of the Roadrunners Track and Field Club who are heading off to college to further their athletic careers.

While Ford will be leaving on Sunday for Indiana Tech, who competes in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) and is member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Roberts left yesterday for Hinds Community College in Mississippi, a member of the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

Roberts said just as she made the transition in high school, she’s looking forward to doing it in college under head coach Reginald Dillon.

“It’s a community college, so it’s not a lot of people. I don’t really like the crowd,” she said. “I just want to improve and do better than I am doing now.”

In the 800 metres, Roberts has run a lifetime best of two minutes and 14 seconds and 5:02 in the 1,500 metres. 

The three-time CARIFTA team member has a pair of bronze medals as a member of the 4 x 400m relay teams.

The 18-year-old Roberts, who spent the past six years with the Roadrunners, hopes to pursue her degree in business administration. 

“It’s been good. Everybody has been nice and really pushed me to do what I can do,” Robert said. “I just want to say to those who are remaining, to stay focused and stay determined and don’t give up when you are down.”

She thanked coach Bodie and the rest of the coaching staff in the Roadrunners, noting that if it wasn’t for them pushing her, she would not be where she is today. Her mother Erica Rollins was accompanying her to Mississippi just to make sure that she has all of the amenities that she will need to get set up for her collegiate journey.

Coming from a family of seven siblings, Roberts, whose father is Dario Roberts, is the only one competing in track and the only one to head off to college, so she considers herself to be the pacesetter. 

Ford, a graduate of St Augustine’s College, will be leaving on Sunday. He will be joining fellow SAC graduate Jelani Morrison and CR Walker’s Reanno Todd on the men’s team and team-mate Tamia Taylor from St John’s College and Grand Bahamian Kaily Pratt, who compete on the women’s team.

“I’m about 50-50 excited because I’m leaving everything in Nassau,” Ford said. “I’ve been here at home all my life, so it’s a new beginning for me to take on.”

Ford, 18, said he selected Indiana Tech, coached by Doug Edgar, because they have a good academic programme and an excellent sprint programme that will only enable him to run faster than his personal best of 10.75 in the 100m and 21.24 in the 200m.

“I just want to stay healthy, keep my faith in God and just run to the best of my ability,” he said. “My high school career has had its ups and downs.

“At one point, I wasn’t running after I fell out of love with the sport about three years ago. But my parents, Ian Ford and Joyce McKenzie, and my coaches told me to have faith in God and to stick with it.”

For those members of the Roadrunners and other track athletes still at home, Ford encouraged them to “stay focused, put in the work and don’t give up. I hope to see them go further than I have.”

Having competed as a Roadrunner all of his life, Ford said he owes it all to coach Bodie and the rest of the coaches and he hopes that one day “I can repay them back for their support.”

Roadrunners’ head coach Dexter Bodie said he;’s confident that the two athletes will represent the Bahamas very well at their respective colleges.

“Mentally and physically they have to be prepared for what is to come,” Bodie said. “I told them the way we train over here will be different in college.

“So they have to be ready to expect the unexpected and to be ready for the challenge.”

Based on their base they got here, Bodie said he anticipated some great things for them as they shine in their new environments.

“It will be a learning experience for rhythm, but I’m sure that they will adapt to their new culture and program that they will be entering.”

Ford will be among a list of about six-eight student-athletes who are still in school and an additional few who have finished, but are now working in the United States.

Additionally, Bodie said three of their athletes, who have completed their collegiate eligibility, have returned home and are now giving back to the club as coaches. They are Christian Black, Shawn Lockhart and Edwina Missick.

The club, however, pride on the fact that one of their alumni, 

Dominique Higgins, is now a nero-surgeon and Olympian Ojay Ferguson is coaching in the United States.

“The club has produced some exceptional athletes, who have paved the way,” Bodie said. “I’m quite sure they are doing very well. They are all doing very well.”

Higgins will be returning home in December to be the guest speaker for the club’s 26th awards banquet. The club’s highest award presented is named after Higgins, a former sprinter.