Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Former Edwin Allen athlete, Shaun Smith, a senior on the Oral Roberts University (ORU) men's track and field team, has been awarded The Summit League Athlete of the Week honour for the week ending Monday January 28.

Smith got the award for his performance at the Razorback Invitational at the University of Arkansas in the USA on the weekend.

Smith won the award after opening the indoor season with a second-place finish in the 800-metre run at the Razorback Invitational. His time of 1:50.42 in the race surpassed the NCAA provisional qualifying mark and also set a season-best thus far in the league season.

The Clarendon, Jamaica native is the third ORU track and field athlete to earn the conference honour this season.

Meanwhile, former Jamaica junior star, Nickiesha Anderson, was on fire at the Jayhawk Classic, also on the weekend.

Anderson has now set four records in her first four races as a member of the University of Kansas track and field team. Anderson broke the school's 60-metre record and the Anschutz Pavilion facility 200-meter record last Friday.

Anderson actually set the school record in the 60-metre dash on two occasions. She beat Tiffany Cherry in the Kansas record book when she crossed the finish line in 7.40 seconds in the semi-finals of the event and then proceeded to surpass her own mark with her winning time of 7.38 in the final. Cherry had set the school-record at 7.41 in 2006.

Kansas' head coach Stanley Redwine praised Anderson's performance.

"She was outstanding," Redwine said. "She is very competitive and exemplifies what we are hoping our athletes can achieve. Every time she steps on the track she has the instinct to win and the attitude that she is going to go out and do her very best," he was quoted as saying.

A few moments after her 60 metres triumph, Anderson supplanted a 16-year-old Anschutz Pavilion record in the 200 metres by racing to a 23.85 finish. The previous record had been held by Kathy Travis of Nebraska from the 1992 Big Eight Championships.