Published On:Tuesday, October 13, 2009

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ROMONA Nicolls is having a stellar year for the Park University Pirates Athletics.

For the second week, the senior picked up a victory in Cross Country with her latest feat coming on Saturday at the Haskell Invitational.

Nicolls, 21, clocked six minutes and five seconds to win the race in Lawrence, Kansas. The performance came a week after she took the Park University Invitational in 19:29.5 at home in Platte City, Missouri.

In the process over the weekend, Nicolls helped Park University to win the team title over Benedictine College, Peru State and Haskell.

Pirates' head coach Brian Renshaw said he has been quite impressed with the way Nicolls has been performing all season long.

"I'm really impressed with where she's at right now," he said. "She's better than where she was in the past, which was one of our goals, to improve every year.

"Again, she is well ahead of where I expected her to be."

Nicolls, the former track star for the Jordan Prince Williams Falcons, will be back in action next weekend when Park University heads to Lamoni, Iowa, to compete in the Graceland Invite.

Renshaw said the event will be a great opportunity for Nicolls to prepare herself for the AMC Championships that is slated for November 7 in St Louis, Missouri.

"In the past, we didn't get a chance to compete in this meet that we are going into," Renshaw said. "We're in a new conference, so we're just going to have to wait and see how well she can compete here."

From the conference championships, Nicolls will close out her cross country season at the NAIA Championships that is scheduled to take place on November 21 in Vancouver, Washington.

"She's done real well with everything we've asked her to do," Renshaw said. "She's stronger than she was last year and in some of the races she's ran, she done better times that she's ever done before."

Renshaw said Park University has been very pleased with Nicolls' performances over the years. And as she prepares to graduate next year, he said the Pirates' athletic team will certainly miss her presence.

"She's been a good girl to have on the team," he said.

Nicolls, who was unavailable for comment, is one four Bahamians who are on athletic scholarships with the Pirates' track team at Park University.

The others gearing up for the track and field season are Kanisha Murray and Alexionette Robinson, sophomore sprinters and middle distance runners from Jordan Prince Williams and Lexi Wilson, a sophomore distance runners from Westminister College.

Park University, however, doesn't have any male athletes on scholarship as yet and Renshaw said they will definitely be looking at acquiring a few in the future.

"If they're anything like Romona or the other athletes that we have here, we will be happy to enroll them," Renshaw said. "We have been very pleased with all of the athletes we have gotten from the Bahamas."