BROOKLYN, N.Y. --- Two members of the LIU Brooklyn track programs were selected and Northeast Conference (NEC) Outdoor Track and Field weekly honorees Tuesday afternoon.
Junior
Kareem Roberts and sophomore
Shantae McDonald were tabbed as the NEC Men's Field and Women's Track Athletes of the Week for their respective performances at last week's Texas Relays.
Roberts raised expectations for the 2017 outdoor season by high jumping more than seven feet at the Texas Relays. Competing for the first time since the NEC Indoor Championships in February, the Empire State product cleared 2.15m (7' 0.5") to immediately establish himself as the league leader. Roberts edged out Oklahoma's Dean White to finish second in the 18-person B Section. The junior college transfer is one of only 19 NCAA Division I high jumpers to have cleared the 2.15m mark this season. He ranks first overall on the regional leader board of IC4A Championships qualifiers.
McDonald contested the 100m hurdles for the first time this season in Austin and the second-year athlete instantly surged to the top of the conference performance list by clocking in at 14.06. Nearly one-half second under the ECAC Championships qualifying standard, McDonald has a 0.15 second lead on her closest NEC competition (CCSU's Melissa Wolliston). With more than one month until the conference title meet, the Jamaican-born Blackbird ran only 0.07 second shy of the collegiate personal record she set at the 2016 NEC Outdoor Championships.