May 4, 2004 — St. Croix's Laverne Jones ran the 200 meters in 22.81 seconds on Saturday at the Big 12 Track and Field Championships in Norman, Okla. The time meets the "A" Standard for qualifying for the Athens Olympics.
Jones, a senior at the University of Oklahoma, finished second in the 100-meter race with an 11.45. Her time in the 200 marks a career best and also breaks the school record she set earlier this season at 23.16 and broke Friday in the preliminaries with a 22.95. According to the International Association of Athletic Federations, her time in the 200 is the fifth-fastest in the world.
A press release from the V.I. Track and Field Federation stated: "To say the 200 was a fast race is an understatement, as the top four times in today’s race rank among the top 15 in the world."
Jones had an unprecedented Big 12 Conference Championship meet, finishing second in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters to the top-three listed U.S. sprinters including Sanya Richards.
In the 200-meter final, the release said, "Richards came off the curve a couple of meters behind LaVerne Jones. But Richards ran down Jones and nailed her at the finish line — winning in 22.75 to Jones' 22.81, the fourth- and fifth-fastest times so far this year."
Jones is one of the most versatile sprinters in the world today, having very fast times in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter events, according to the V.I. Track and Field Federation.
For more information about running and track in the Virgin Islands, visit the V.I. Pace Web site.
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