The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MARISSA White has made the adjustment to competing at the collegiate level and now she’s hoping that she can move on and represent the Bahamas on the international stage as a member of the next female sprinting core.

Now in her sophomore year at Temple University in Philadelphia, White has produced a personal best time of 54.62 in the 400m, the latter of which she made a successful outdoor debut in her freshman year in 2019 at the Charlotte 49ers Classic.

Her lifetime best of 24.49 in the 200m enabled her to post the fastest mark for the Owls during the season.

“So far it’s been good. I made a lot of progress last year,” said White during a training session at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium during her return home for the Christmas break. “This year, I opened up getting close to my PR, so this season looks promising.”

The accounting major said her goal in 2020 is to drop her indoor 400m time to about 53 seconds and 52-high outdoors.

“Me and my coach are thinking about the Olympics,” said White, who is coached by Elvis Forde. “It’s later in the season, so hopefully after I get through the collegiate season, I would be ready to compete, even if it’s just as a member of the (women’s 4 x 400m) relay team.”

And if she attains that goal, White knows that she will be on her way to a great season.

“I have to improve on my front part of the race,” she said. “That’s the main thing. I have to be more confident with that aspect of my race.”

She noted that St Augustine’s 2012 graduate Shaunae Miller-Uibo, the 2016 Olympic champion and 2019 IAAF World Championships’ silver medallist, has inspired her.

“Knowing where she came from to see where she is and where I am now, hopefully one day I can do it too,” said White, who graduated from SAC in 2018. “I am excited about what the future holds for me.”

White also won the 400m dash at the Rider Invite, ran the 400m at the AAC Outdoor Championships, where she finished fifth overall with a time of 54.67, and she anchored Temple’s 4x4 team that ran its fastest time of the season at the championship meet. In her indoor freshman campaign, White won her first-ever race as an Owl in the 400m at the Lehigh Season Opener; she took gold in the 300m at the Seahawk Shootout; finished third in the 400m at the Great Dane Invitational and split 56.08 as the 400m leg of the record-breaking DMR at the Columbia Challenge.

To add to her list of achievements, White placed sixth in the 200m at the Villanova Invitational; ran the fastest 200m for the Owls this season in 25.05 at the Valentine Invitational; had an outstanding performance at the AAC Indoor Championships, where she moved up from her ninth-place seed and advanced to finals where she finished fourth with a time of 55.20 and was a part of the DMR that finished fourth at the indoor championship meet.

“It took a while for me to get used to competing in college,” said White, who represented the Bahamas five times at the regional Carifta Games where she won two silver medals and a bronze on the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400m relay teams.

“But to see where I came from to where I am now, especially being in Philly where it gets so cold and being away from home was another challenge, but it’s been okay. I am really enjoying it right now and can’t wait to get back.”

White is one of two Bahamians on the Owls’ track team. The other member is sprinter Kennedy Culmer, a sophomore from Sunland Baptist Church in Grand Bahama. While she will return to Philadelphia on Friday, White and Culmer will prepare for her first meet for 2020 on Saturday, January 18 at the Penn 8 Team Challenge.

“The Christmas break was good. very relaxing,” said White, the daughter of Jennis and Michael White. “So it was a good recovery and get to eat some Bahamian food.”

Now it’s back to work on the track.