Foster-Hylton named to college Hall of Honour

Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Jamaica’s first world champion in the 100-metre hurdles, will be inducted into the Texas State Hall of Honour later this month. Foster-Hylton, who represented the university from 1996 to 1998, will be inducted with decathlete Drew Fucci, running back Kevin Jurgajtis, and baseball hero Tyler Sibley.

The 2023 Induction Ceremony and Hall of Honour Banquet will take place on November 24 at the university. Foster-Hylton, Fucci, Jurgajtis and Sibley will also be recognised during half-time of the November 25 college football game between Texas State and South Alabama.

The Jamaican represented the institution when it was known as Southwest Texas State, finishing third in the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100m hurdles and captured six Southland Conference individual titles. She is the only four-time Olympian in Texas State history.

Foster-Hylton began her Texas State career in 1996 after transferring from Wallace State University. In her first year, she won the Southland Conference’s title in the 55m hurdles at the indoor championships. Competing for the first time in the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships, she won the 100m hurdle title and finished fourth in the 200m.

At the time of her graduation with a bachelor of arts in speech communication and business administration in 1998, she held the school records for the flat 100m, dash, the 200m, the 55m hurdles, and the 100m hurdles. She still holds the third-sixth-and ninth-fastest times in the 100m hurdles and the number two time in Texas State history in the 55m hurdles.

The St Elizabeth Technical High School graduate returned to Jamaica after graduation and started a successful collaboration with coach Stephen Francis and the fledgling MVP Track Club. She competed in the 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012 Olympics, making the finals in 2000 and 2008. Named the best 100m hurdler of the decade of the 2000s by Track And Field News, she won the 2003 Pan American and 2006 Commonwealth gold medals. In 2009, she won Jamaica’s first 100m hurdles gold medal at the World Championships, having already won silver in 2003 and bronze in 2005.

Foster-Hylton was also Jamaica’s Sportswoman of the Year in 2002, 2003, and 2009.