PEP scholar Alzeliha Allen sprinting towards success
Published:Wednesday | September 4, 2024 | 12:05 AM
With some Jamaican athletes having not performed at their best in the recent staging of the Olympics in Paris, aspiring track and field star Alzeliha Allen hopes to make it up to the nation, especially in the 100m and 200m races, when her time comes around.
Allen, who recorded a new personal best time of 27.38 seconds in last June’s Jamaica Independent School Association (JISA) Prep School Championships’ 200m event and copped the girls’ Class One sprint double title, has four words for the world: “Watch out for me.”
She is the record holder for the 200m race at the last Purewater JCR Danny Williams Meet, where she also ran the 60m hurdles. Allen created records in the 100m and 60m hurdle events at the recent Mona Prep Invitational Meet, and was named the champion girl at Prep Champs after running the 100m and 200m races.
STICKING TO SCHEDULE
After scoring an overall average of 94 per cent at Richmond Park Prep School for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations, she was awarded with a Courts Dare to Dream scholarship valued at $100,000. The Gleaner caught up with her last Friday, at the store’s head office in Kingston, where she was presented with her scholarship award.
“I really have a schedule that I use. I try to share equal time with my track and field and my schoolwork,” Alzeliha, who is 12 years old and from the parish of Kingston, said.
“I go to training every day, listen to music, dance, just free my mind and just say [to myself] that I’m going to run my race and do well. That’s, basically, how I prepare,” she said.
The up-and-coming track and field sensation describes herself as a determined, intelligent, and strong-willed individual.
NEW CHAPTER
She is looking forward to starting a new chapter of her life at St Andrew High School for Girls, which was her first choice in the examinations, and where she was placed.
“I just like the sisterhood and the fun clubs that they have, and I’m just looking forward to the ISSA Boys and Girls’ Championships. That’s what I’ll be looking forward to and staying on the honour roll in class,” she said.
Besides wanting to become a professional track athlete, Allen also aspires to be a sports law attorney because she wants “to help other athletes develop their careers both on and off track”.
Her message to other aspiring track athletes is to “set a goal for yourself, work hard towards that goal, and trust God”.
The Unicomer Group, through the Courts brand, handed over $7.7 million to 41 recipients this year. The Group awarded 12 university students with $400,000 each towards their tuition for the 2024-2025 academic year, for a total of $4.8 million. There were 29 PEP scholars, one per store, with each awardee receiving $100,000 towards school fees, books, and uniforms.