By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
OVER the years, the Bahamas has seen a number of female sprinters who emerged on the international scene.
Veteran University of Houston coach Leroy Burrell hopes that Grand Bahamian Brianne Bethel will be the next to make her presence felt.
Bethel, a graduate of Sunland Baptist Academy, is now in her senior year under Burrell, the head coach at the University of Houston.
She went there with her twin sister, Brittni, who has been hampered by a series of injuries. Their parents are Claudette and Brian Bethel from Grand Bahama. “She’s healthy and this will be her second year with our training plan,” said Burrell, now in his 21st year at UH of (Brianne) Bethel. “We’ve set some lofty goals for her. We want her to run 11-flat (in the 100m) and 22.15 (in the 200m).
“We’re really going to push her because we believe there is a little bit of a depth issue in the Bahamas right now and so we want her to be able to help fill some of that void.”
Burrell, who has had a stellar collegiate career as a long jumper/sprinter for Houston before he emerged as one of the world’s renowned global sprinters, said they anticipate that Bethel will start running as early as January during the indoor season for the Cougars.
The 5-foot, 7-inch Bethel, who is majoring in biology and aspires to be a clinical geneticist, has run a lifetime best of 7.30 seconds in the 60m indoors. Outdoors, she has posted 11.20 in the 100m, 22.74 in the 200m and even dabbled with the 400m, clocking 54.29 in the one-lap race.
Unfortunately, Burrell said Brittni’s injuries will allow her to remain a medical redshirt, which means that she will just focus her attention on her studies and completing her educational status at the University of Houston where she is majoring in human resource development.
A year ago, Burrell also had the opportunity to work with Bahamian ‘Golden Girl’ Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie and her coaching staff that currently includes Lewis and Bahamian Olympic triple jump bronze medallist Frank Rutherford.
“Debbie worked very, very hard and she helped us to recruit some very talented young people,” Burrell said. “I know it was a bit of a challenge for her here with us because she wanted to do so much more.
“But now she’s at the University of Kentucky under your Bahamian coach Lonnie Greene and so I’m happy for her. I think she left a strong legacy here in her short period of time that she was here. So I think you will see some great things from her as she continues to progress in her career.”
As for Rutherford, he is another UH alumni who excelled as a Bahamian NCAA champion and was the first to win a medal at the Olympics in 2002 in Barcelona, Spain with a silver in the triple jump.
“He’s been a very good friend of myself and Carl and so we are also eager to have him working with us,” Burrell said. “We know that he has a contribution to make and we look forward to his contribution.”
Currently working with the triple jumpers on the Cougars team, Rutherford will also get to supervise his daughter, Jazmyn Tilford-Rutherford, a senior who competes in both the sprints and the jumps.
Considered to be a close friend and confidant, Lewis said Rutherford is a big part of the plan that Burrell has established for the Cougars’ athletic team and the role he plays with the National Basketball Association and the professional players.
“He’s really helping with the jumpers and he speaks with the same voice that we do,” Lewis said. “He’s definitely in the fight to do that and he will definitely help us to produce some more Olympians, which is our ultimate goal in Houston.
“Frank is tremendous. He understands what’s going, he’s a good businessman and he’s going to be a huge help for us.”
Lewis, however, concurred with Burrell that they all have some big plans for Bethel as she emerges into one of the top sprinters, not just for the Bahamas, but for the Cougars and subsequently as a pro athlete.
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