JAMAICAN Janika Martell, a St Mary native, wasted no time in automatically qualifying for the 60 metres of the NCAA Indoor Division Two Championship on March 12-13 at Albuquerque, New Mexico, when she clocked 7.43 seconds at the ISU Holiday Preview meet in the Iowa State-Leid Recreation Centre, at Ames, Iowa.

Markell, the 24-year-old bronze medallist in both the NCAA Indoor 60-metre and NCAA Outdoor 100-metre last year, ran below the 7.45-second automatic qualification mark, ahead of fellow Jamaican and teammate at Lincoln University in Missouri, Nyoka Cole, second in 7.51 metres. A Mandeville native, Cole ran under the provisional time of 7.75 seconds.

Two other Jamaicans at Lincoln University, Marcia Woolery and Jhanell Brown, who ran in the same race, also ran under the provisional time when they placed fifth and sixth, respectively, with 7.64 and 7.66 seconds.

Now a senior at Lincoln, Martell had her best season last year with personal records in the 60, 100 and 200 metres (indoor and outdoor), all at the NCAA Division Two Championships in Houston (Indoor) and St Angelo (Outdoor) in Texas.

In the 60m, she holds a personal best time of 7.37 seconds, while in the 100m Martell clocked a career-best 11.36 seconds. For the 200 metres, her personal records were 24.44 seconds and 23.72 seconds, respectively.

Sixth in the 100m at the Central American and Caribbean (Senior) Championships in Havana, Cuba last year, Markell will get her biggest competition from her Lincoln University teammate, Trinidadian Semoy Hackett, silver medallist in the 60m, silver medallist and 100m, and 200m champion at the NCAA Division Two Championships in 2009.