Seneca senior Kya Brookins placed fourth overall in the Hershey\'s women\'s 60-meter dash Friday night at the 100th Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY.
Brookins finished in 7.36 seconds, the third athlete across the line representing the United States. Angela Daigle-Bowen (USA) was first in 7.25 seconds.
\"The meet unfolded with me earning fourth place,\" said Brookins. \"I know I am much faster than 7.36, but considering the field and this being my first time racing the professionals, I was proud of my performance. At least I know I can compete with the best! At the starting line, it was intense. I was nervous, anxious, but confident.\"
\"It was great to be there, surreal actually,\" said Brookins. \"I felt so honored to be amongst so (many) world class athletes. Last year this time, competing with athletes of this caliber was not even a thought.\"
Brookins mentioned she received an invitation to the Millrose Games on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.
\"My indoor coach, Mickey Nickels, had me preparing for another race. If we had known earlier, my workouts would have been differently. I had heavy legs, but I am not making any excuses. I had a great time at this meet, lots of fun. I am happy I was invited.\"
Brookins finished ahead of fellow runners Rachelle Smith (7.42, USA) and Miki Barber (7.64, USA).
\"They (crowd) were roaring and encouraging. I have never competed in front of so many people, but I loved it. I wanted to give the crowd a good performance and I hope they were happy with the way I competed.\"
Brookins will attend the University of South Carolina in the fall.
The trip
\"I went through alot to get here. We had the snow storm on Thursday and many flights from Greenville-Spartanburg was canceled, which caused me to miss a few connecting flights. Finally, I arrived here late Thursday night.
I have seen most of the tourist sites here in New York, the Statue of Liberty and not too long ago I was able to see the play the Lion King. When I go to meets it\'s business first. Alot of preparation goes into every meet, you just can\'t get out and run. Yesterday morning, (Friday), I when I went out for breakfast, I bought a few cool clothing articles and that is all I wanted to do run and shop!
I have an aunt who lives here (New York) so I visit the city sometimes in the summer or spring break.\"
Heading back to South Carolina today, Brookins mentioned, \"The weather here has been better than I expected.\"
Link to event results.
In the college women\'s 60-meters LSU\'s Kelly Ann Baptiste finished in 7.31. Second place was Texas\' Chaunte Bayne in 7.36.
\"As for my meets for the remaining of the indoor season, we are still trying to make some decisions,\" said Brookins. \"This has been an indoor season of surprises, I have been invited to several meets and it feels good.\"
According to USATF.org, the games airs on television Saturday from 2-3 p.m. on NBC. Friday\'s portion aired from 7-9 p.m. on ESPN2.
