MONTEGO BAY, St James — Former Cornwall College sprinter Alex Graham left the island earlier this week to take up a track and field scholarship at Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas.

The 23-year-old athlete, whose track career has been dogged by injuries, is hoping this will mark a new chapter in his athletic career.

“This is a great opportunity for me after all the setbacks I have had, and I am ready to work hard” he told Observer West late last week.

Graham, who will pursue a degree in Business Administration, promised, “The best of me is yet to come.”

After being out of competitive track and field for over a year, Graham returned two years ago but it was not until he moved to TAPS Track Club to train under coach Andrew Henry that he said he started to see results.

He achieved his personal best 10.40 seconds at a meet at the Western Primary Invitational at Catherine Hall on June 5, the same day he also ran 20.90 seconds in the 200m.

Graham credits his improvement on the attention he got from coach Henry which he said led to him being spotted and offered the scholarship.

A student at Cornwall College between 1999 and 2006, Graham never quite lived up to the flashes of speed he showed, as he battled several injuries and admitted that “even now” he was still dealing with some issues in his hamstrings which he hopes will get better with proper medical attention and physiotherapy.

During his time at Cornwall he also had to deal with some of the top sprinters to have come out of the region in a long time including Mario Forsythe, who was then running for Muschett High.

In 2004 Graham ran a hand-timed 10.6 seconds in the heats of the Class 1 100m in the Western Champs Eliminations at St Elizabeth Technical only to end up fourth in the finals at Catherine Hall when Forsythe swept all three sprint titles, the 10m, 200m and 400m.

He said his move to Texas represents a “new beginning” and while he admits that he no longer dreams of Olympic Games and World Championships glory, he says he won’t rule out representing Jamaica “at some level”.