By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Khemani Roberts has been among the elite track and field athletes in the Ohio Valley Conference so far this outdoor season, a fact validated by the league office on Wednesday when it named the senior its Co-Field Athlete of the Week for the second time in three weeks.
In addition to being her second of the outdoor season, the weekly honor is the Trinidad and Tobago native's third in 2018-19 (one indoor) and fifth of her Tech career (three outdoor, two indoor).
This week, Roberts won for her exploits at the Western Kentucky Hilltopper Relays, where she reset her own Tennessee Tech school record with a 5.96-meter long jump (19 feet, 6 3/4 inches). That effort, which eclipsed Roberts' previous program mark of 5.88 meters (19-3 3/4), was good enough for second place out of 19 athletes at WKU. She was the runner-up to Annastacia Forrester of Western Kentucky, who leapt 6.04 meters (19-9 3/4).
Roberts' distance sits atop the OVC Outdoor Performance List, and is separated from the rest of the pack by a healthy cushion of more than six inches. She now holds the top mark in the conference for both the long jump and the high jump.
Her jump is impressive from a national perspective as well, as it currently ranks tied for 81st on the NCAA Division I Outdoor Qualifying List, and tied for 34th on the NCAA Division I East Outdoor Qualifying List.
Roberts was also under consideration for Female Track Athlete of the Week after taking second place in the 200 meters and seventh in the 100-meter hurdles. Her 200 time of 24.52 seconds is the best by any Golden Eagle this season, and is ranked fourth on the OVC list.
Roberts shared this week's Co-Field Athlete recognition with Karly Hibbard, a thrower from Belmont.
