BVI athlete Kimberly Smith bags silver in indoor long jump

Kimberly Smith (first from right) celebrates her silver medal.

By MERRICK ANDREWS and CATHY RICHARDS, JTV News Editors

(JTV News) — Another British Virgin Islands (BVI) athlete shone at an indoor track and field meet in the United States of America (USA) this weekend.

Kimberly Smith, representing Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, USA, placed second in the women’s long jump final — achieving a personal best and losing the gold by a mere two centimeters — at the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Indoor Track & Field Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas on Saturday, the second day of the three-day meet.

Her silver-medal-winning performance of 5.88 meters or 19 feet and 3.5 inches occurred on her second attempt. She had other efforts of 5.69m (first attempt), 5.45m (third attempt), 5.77m (fourth attempt), 5.74m (fifth attempt), and 5.56m (sixth and final attempt).

Kimberly Smith on the run up in the women’s long jump final for Washburn University

Kimberly Smith in full flight for Washburn University in the women’s long jump.

Smith, a freshman at Washburn, lost the gold by narrowly as the winner, Kayla Goodwin, a sophomore at Central Missouri, recorded 5.90m (19′ 4.25″) on her fifth attempt — also a personal-best performance. She had other results of 5.69m, 5.86m, 5.67m, 5.76m, and 5.89m, in that order.

From third to fifth place also earned personal bests: Third place went to Auna Childress, a sophomore at Pittsburg St. with 5.85m (19′ 2.25″); fourth place went to Luisarys Toledo, a sophomore at NW Missouri, with 5.80m (19′ 0.25″) and fifth place went to freshman Makayla Watson of Pittsburg St, 5.74m (18′ 10″).

Beyonce Defreitas

The other BVI athlete who shone over the weekend is University of Central Florida (UCF) senior Beyonce Defreitas, who won gold and bronze in the women’s 200 meters and 60 meters, respectively, at the Feb. 24-25 American Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Birmingham, Alabama.

Defreitas clocked 23.34 to win the 200m final after producing the second-fastest time, 23.73, in the preliminaries.

The former Elmore Stoutt High School student went on to take third place overall and the bronze in the women’s 60m final in 7.36 seconds.

She entered the final with the fastest time of 7.34.

Her UCF teammate won the final in 7.29.

British Virgin Islands athlete Beyonce Defreitas represents University of Central Florida