Barnes sets new national mark in collegiate debut

By Cayman Sports Buzz
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Updated: 15 January 2018

Lacee Barnes is a freshman at UTSA.

Lacee Barnes overcame her nerves to secure a top-3 shot put finish at the Ted Nelson Invitational track and field meet for University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) on Saturday, 13 January 2018 and shattered her Cayman Islands record in the process.

Competing in her first collegiate meet and for the first time indoors at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium at Texas A&M University, Barnes had a throw of 14.20 metres on her fifth attempt. Her prior lifetime best was 13.06 metres set at the Flow CARIFTA Games in Curacao last April.

“I had a rough start. I was very nervous and trying to get comfortable. That fifth throw, it just came out of nowhere. It exceeded the expectations of my coach,” the 18-year-old freshman told CaymanSportsBuzz.com, adding that their aim was for her to reach 13.75 metres.

“I was so nervous that I was overthinking everything with the first couple of throws because I’m a freshman going against seniors and juniors, people that have been in college for years already, so I guess it was a bit of stage fright. By the time that throw came, I was telling myself don’t think about it and ‘you’re just doing you from here on out’,” she said.

Barnes finished behind Briyah Brown, a senior from Army West Point (15.33m) and Celine Markert, a junior from Texas A&M (14.41m).

Asked if she thinks she can outdo her performance on Saturday, the former St Ignatius Catholic School student replied: “Most definitely because of that throw my coach is expecting me to throw 15 metres by indoor championships. I know for sure that the throw was just the tip of the iceberg. I’m so much stronger and there’s so much work to be done to add on to that throw, so definitely expect big things.”

Barnes credited UTSA throwing coach Chris Adams with her development and the performance on Saturday. She said with the training plan he’s been putting her through, he work is constantly being critiqued and weight training has made her stronger.

She provided one of six podium finishes for thee UTSA Roadrunners at the meet and is next scheduled to compete on 19 January at the Texas tech Red Raider Invitational. She is expected to compete in discus and the hammer throws once the outdoor season begins.