The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE it was inevitable that she would follow in the footsteps of her mother, Bahamian sensation Maryann Higgs-Clarke, Lanece Clarke was quite content with inking her own legacy.

The CR Walker star went on to McKendree University where she produced sufficient statistics as a member of the Bearcats women’s track and field team that she earned a spot in the 2020 Hall of Fame Class.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a virtual ceremony was held last year where Clarke got to view the university’s “Virtual Homecoming” live event at home with her parents, including her father, Patrick Clarke.

On Saturday, October 3, 2020, Clarke, a 2010 graduate of McKendree, was honoured along with Adam ‘AJ’ Johnson (’15 graduating bowler), Scott Roberts (a ’09 graduate and ice hockey player) and Evelyn Bean (the Bearcats women’s volleyball and softball coach from 1997 to 2015).

But on Saturday, October 23, Clarke was invited back to Lebanon, Illinois where she was joined by her mother and sister, Shant’e Clarke. Unfortunately, her father passed away in November, 2020 and so Clarke dedicated the award she received in his honour.

“I was really elated when I found out I was being inducted,” said Clarke of the environment that took place on the eve of her father’s birthday and so she honoured him with the award.

“It was bitter-sweet for me because last year we experienced it virtually and we were planning to go to the actual ceremony, but it wasn’t here. So it was very emotional.”

On her return to Illinois, Clarke said she and her family were well received by the McKendree family as they celebrated together.

It was even more special because at the age of 33, she was one of the youngest inductees, a female and a person of colour. “It was good being back on my home grounds at my alma mater where everything started,” Clarke reflected. “It was the foundation for me because going to college, I was just thinking about getting my education.

“Track and field was a way for me to meet my scholarship requirements, not knowing that I would have gone on to compete for the Bahamas at various international competitions.”

After graduating from CR Walker in 2005, Clarke enrolled at McKendree where she emerged as one of the top female sprinters both indoors and outdoors for the Bearcats. She became a 15-time National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) All-American, spreading the accolades over the final three years she spent at McKendree.

In one of her highlight reels, Clarke captured the 2007 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships’ 100 metre title by nipping her opponent by just four one-hundredths of a second.

From there, her career flourished at McKendree as Clarke went on to secure 11 of her All-American honours.

During the 2008 and 2009 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she posted six All-American awards to her résumé as a top three finisher in the finals of five of the races she competed in.

During her tenure at McKendree, Clarke made her imprint on the Bearcats’ track team as she racked up three straight top three-finishes in the outdoor 100m and three consecutive third-place performances at the 60m indoors.

“Thinking back, I wished I could have done more, but while we had a track, but not one indoors we had a gym, but not for athletes training for high level performances,” she pointed out. “So I wished I could have done more and performed better.

“But I’m pleased with what I did in the short time I was there and with what we had to work with. I’m pleased with the performances. My former coach, John Davis, was very pleased. He was like a father-figure. He took me and accepted me like one of his children.”

Clarke, who went on to compete for the Bahamas at the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2011 and 2013, the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and the World Championships in 2013, 2015 and 2017, said the pinnacle event for her was making the team for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.

“Following in the footsteps of my mom, hearing everybody say she was Maryann Higgs and she did this and she did that, so I had some very big shoes to fill.

“So I was very surprised with what I accomplished during my time running for the Bahamas, the World Championships wasn’t something that I thought I was going to do. Going to college wasn’t even on my list. But God gave me these talents and I just used them.”

In 2010, she began training with coach George Cleare for the journey to the 2016 Olympics. It wasn’t something that she envisioned, but as she progressed year by year, she realised that the dream was a reality. “I surprised myself. I didn’t believe that I would have made it that far and accomplished the things that I did, following in my mom’s footsteps,” she stated.

“There was some pressure for me to compete, knowing that everybody knew her. So I tried to block that out and make a name for myself and not just be known as Maryann Higgs’ daughter. There were some people who told me that I would never be as good as her, so I used that negativity and put it into positive stuff to become Lanece Clarke and not just Maryann’s daughter.”

Clarke recalled how disturbing it was for her one day when they were out together and someone who knew of her mother’s exploits asked her if she had any daughters and she pointed Clarke out and he said she won’t ever be as good as she was.

But after Higgs-Clarke corrected him and informed him that she made the Olympic team, he politely apologised.

At times, Clarke also noted that some people thought she was “Golden Girl” Eldece Clarke’s daughter because of their first and last names. She admitted that she quietly went along with the programme until they found out otherwise and acknowledged who her real mother was.

Now that she’s back home and working alongside her sister, with the support from their mother, in running their father’s construction business, PJ Tile Layers and Construction, Clarke said she’s still contemplating her future in track and field.

“Up to 2020, I was still training for the Olympics (in Tokyo this year), then I had the tragic loss, so I put it on the backburner,” she said. “My dad was pushing me. I wanted to stop last year, but he was telling me that I should go for one more Olympics.

“So after he died, I kind of slowed down my training. I’m contemplating what to do. I have one foot in and one foot out. I’m just not sure which way I want to go. But for right now, I’m just focusing on myself and my mental frame of mind. I want to spend more time with my family because I lost so much time away from them.”