Sheree Francis - file

Sheree Francis - file

National record holder Sheree Francis overcame a battery of misfortune to clear a season's best 1.90m on Saturday at the Drake Relays, which was staged at the Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Francis, who has a personal-best mark of 1.93m, actually attempted that height, after she had wrapped up first place, but failed to clear the bar on all three attempts.

The 27-year-old five-time national champion is, however, buoyed by her latest performance, especially considering the difficulties she had to endure leading up to the meet.

Francis arrived at the stadium just 20 minutes before her first jump because of flight delays and was also forced to borrow compatriot Peaches Roach's spikes, because her baggage was also left behind by the airline.

Roach, who barely missed out on a medal while representing Jamaica in the heptathlon at last year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, actually finished seventh with a mark of 1.76m.

Francis, the 27-year-old MVP Track Club athlete would, however, not be denied, digging deep to produce her best performance of the season so far.

It is a showing that has left her extremely proud and even more determined to push that PB closer to the 2.00m mark.

"I am feeling so proud of myself right now, trust me, you have no idea how happy I am about all this," said Francis, during an interview with The Star from Iowa yesterday. "Knowing all that I went through to get there and even when I got there have made this even more special for me."

The former Vere Technical student is now focused on maintaining a level of consistency this season and is looking to first of all return to her 1.93m exploits before improving on that mark, with the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Daegu, South Korea, closing in on the horizon.

"I feel really close to 1.93m and beyond due to how things have been going in my training sessions and also because of this performance over the weekend," Francis said. "I want to consistently jump 1.90m and over and then take it from there."

"I am just focusing on remaining calm and pushing myself to higher heights," she added. "Consistency is definitely a target of mine since my goal is to keep going higher in all my meets."

Francis will now turn her attention to this weekend's JN Jamaica Invitational meet at the National Stadium before jetting off to compete at meets in South Korea and Brazil. She is, however, keeping her feet on the ground and is aware that there is still a lot of work left to be done.

"I am more focused than excited. I realise that when I get too excited I often think too much about the jumping itself and lose concentration. So I am channelling the excitement and remaining calm," said Francis.

Shot putter Dorian Scott was also at the meet but had to settle for sixth place in his event with a best throw of 19.77m.