TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For as much winning as she's done on the track in her two seasons at Tennessee Tech, Khemani Roberts has also been a winner in the classroom, and a key piece of the leadership core for Golden Eagle track and field. Roberts will now add another victory to her resume, as she has been named the TTU Athletics Golden Eagle Unsung Leader for the month of February.
Roberts punctuated her indoor season by competing in 10 different events at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 20-21. Five of those events were included in her gold-medal pentathlon performance, where she dominated the field with a school-record 3,954 points.
The Bon Accord, Trinidad and Tobago native welcomed the heavy load her team needed her to bear, contributing a total of 30 points to Tech's team score at the Indoor Championships. In addition to the 10 awarded for the pentathlon, she tallied another 10 points for her 1.76-meter high jump outing (5 feet, 9 1/4 inches), and 10 more as one of the legs of the 4x400-meter relay team, which sealed Tech's second straight indoor conference championship with a time of 3-minutes, 48.90 seconds.
Roberts also broke the Tech long jump record with a 5.69-meter attempt at the Indiana Relays on Jan. 25, and finished in the top 15 on the OVC's Indoor Performance List in five different events.
Considering her athletic resume, one may think it difficult for Roberts to live up to that same standard as an academic leader. That could not be further from the truth, as the senior has taken on a tutoring role, and has requested opportunities to move her practice times around in favor of assisting other athletes with their studies.
The tremendous balance Roberts has created athletically, academically and as a leader has stood out in a major way to the coaching staff.
"Athletically, she knows that if she can succeed, she will help her team succeed, and academically, she is confident enough in her knowledge that she wants to help Tech's student-athletes, and really cares about helping them gain that knowledge as well," said assistant track and field coach Whitney Fountain.
"You would think that during championship season you would want all of your focus on one prize, but Khemani has the ability to focus on multiple prizes at the same time," Fountain said. "She knows how to direct her focus where needed and will win on all ends of the spectrum. Not only is she a leader on the track, but she's a leader in the classroom, and a leader of others to help them find success. She doesn't want people to follow her, she wants them to walk side-by-side with her."
Photo by Michael Wade
