FIVE Mid-Island Striders Track Club members and one former member will be going to college this month and in January.

Whitney Matthew, who has been enrolled at and competing for Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, will be heading off to Hampton University. She finished Mercersburg setting the indoor 200m and 400m records as well as the outdoor 100m, 200m and 400m school records. Matthew, who is a former Bermuda national champion in the 100m and 200m, will be studying nursing.

Santi-Lah Knotts, who moved back to Madison Alabama last year, competed for Bob Jones High School and became the Girls 6A division state champion in the 100m hurdles. Her time of 14.99 qualified her for a scholarship to the University of Alabama-Huntsville. This time in the hurdles, once verified, may also be a new Bermuda junior and national record surpassing the time of 15.24 set by Andrea Jackson.

Former Mid-Island Strider ¿ now a Flyer athlete ¿ Deanne Lightbourn will be leaving on Monday to attend Kansas City Community College on an athletic scholarship. She will be competing for the college under coach Al Hobson who also trains professional athletes. The two-year stint will expose her to top coaching and competition as well as prepare her for her career in Geriatrics. Lightbourn qualified for the athletic scholarship when she ran a personal best (2:13.83) and placed fourth in the 800m at the 2008 Carifta Games.

Lovintz Tota will also be heading to Kansas City Community College in January. Tota, the 2003 Florida Relays champion and the 2004 Carifta champion in the long jump, will be going to train with top professional coach Al Hobson. Hobson recently had six of his athletes compete in the US Olympic Trials, with one ¿ Rodney Martin ¿ placing fourth in the 200m which qualified him to be in the relay pool for the Beijing Olympics.

Last but not least Shahnel Woodley and Keimar Clarke will be transferring from their current junior colleges to Division One universities. Woodley, who had an outstanding two seasons competing for Laney College in Oakland, California, will now be attending the University of Nevada Las Vegas on a full track scholarship. She finished her season at Laney with blazing times of 11.53 in the 100m and 24.13 in the 200m as well as being on the Dean's List for academics. Look for her to break Debbie Jones long standing national 100m record of 11.46 in the near future.

Former CedarBridge Academy student Keimar Clarke finished his first year at Wallace State Community College qualifying for both the indoor and outdoor nationals in the long jump and maintaining a 3.50 Grade Point Average. He placed sixth indoor but was sidelined with a hamstring injury so he couldn't compete in the outdoor nationals. Clarke, who was originally scheduled to do two years at Wallace State, recently received some bad news.

His college coach quit and the school dropped the track and field programme. Because it was so late in the summer that he received the news, it was hard finding a school to accept him at such late notice.

"We managed to contact Norfolk State University in Virginia. The coach and the university were more than happy to accept him because of his high GPA and his talent in the long jump," said Clarke's club coach Bill Euler.

However, there was no more scholarship money left for this season, so he will have to pay his own way this year and will receive a scholarship for his remaining time next year. Euler said that presently he is seeking sponsors for this school year and would appreciate assistance in any way. The total cost he is seeking is $18,000. Three sponsors offering $6,000 each would help. He has until next week to attain the funds as school starts at the end of this month.

If you would like to assist this computer science major and future Olympian, please call 333-2455 or email:

midislandstriders01yahoo.com. You can also go to www.midislandstriders.free.bm to find out more about the club and their other athletes in college.