Jeannelle Scheper To Compete At CACAC Championships

June 27, 2012

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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Rising junior Jeannelle Scheper will once again don the cerulean blue, gold and black colors of St. Lucia as the University of South Carolina high jumper will compete this weekend for her country at the Central American & Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC) Junior Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador.

The three-day meet runs June 29 to July 1 at the Estadio Nacional Flor Blanca “Magico Gonzalez”. The CACAC Junior Championships are held between the nations of Central America and the Caribbean Islands every two years for those under the age of 20, and over 516 athletes from 29 countries are scheduled to compete this weekend.

Scheper is ranked sixth among under-20 high jumpers with a top mark of 6’0 (1.83m) that she set at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Baton Rouge, La. She last competed for her country at the CARIFTA Games in early April in Hamilton, Bermuda, where she earned bronze medal honors for the third consecutive year at 5’10 Â¾ (1.80m). The CARIFTA Games, also known as the Caribbean Junior Championships, are contested between 25 Caribbean Island countries.

The 2012 season was a memorable one for the 17-year old sophomore from Gros-Islet, St. Lucia. Scheper earned two All-America honors after placing eighth at the NCAA Indoor Championships and 16th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming the first Gamecock woman to earn All-America honors in the high jump in either the indoor or outdoor season, let alone both in the same year. She was the SEC Indoor bronze medalist in the high jump and holds the South Carolina indoor and outdoor records in the event.

Scheper will next compete for St. Lucia at the IAAF World Junior Championships from July 10-15 in Barcelona, Spain. Scheper has automatically qualified for the event that will be held at the Olympic Stadium.