Alexis Brown poses with the Haiti flag in Haiti national team uniform
photo submitted by Reggie Brown
Kennedale junior Alexis Brown will not compete at this year's Texas Relays.
She will forgo them to fulfill an opportunity to run in the 2018 Carifta Games. The Carifta Games is an annual Caribbean tradition that hosts the finest track and field athletes from each Caribbean country associated with CARIFTA.
This year, the Carifta Games will be held at Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday March 3, 2018 - Monday April 2, 2018.
Watch Carifta Games LIVE On FloTrack
So, how would a Texan be able to compete?
Brown's mother was born and raised in Haiti, which makes her Haitian American. Haiti track and field organizers reached out to the family and requested Brown to compete for them at the games. Brown has also run the qualifying standards in the 100m and 200m of 11.70 and 24.0.
Brown's ability to have met the standards played a part in Haiti's interest to reach out. Haiti organizers hope for Brown to make the finals with an opportunity at a medal.
Many of the Caribbean countries are small in size and population. Haiti is on the western size of an island shared with the Dominican Republic. It is only 27,750 square kilometers (10,714 sq mi) in size and has an estimated 10.8 million people, making it the second-most populous country in the Caribbean as a whole.
Yet, the country hasn't enjoyed much success in track and field. Since 1990, countries like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Bahamas have dominated the Carifta Games. Jamaica has won 726 Gold medals and 1,559 total medals. Trinidad and Tobago has won 157 Gold and 560 total medals and Bahamas have won 129 Gold medals and 575 total medals.
In that time, Haiti has managed to win only one medal and it was a bronze. Out of 4,246 total medals rewarded since 1990, only one has been awarded to the second largest Caribbean country and they want to change that. Even if it means scouring the earth to find runners living outside of the country with Haitian bloodlines such as Brown.
Brown could be the one to change the tide for Haiti. Brown is the #1 ranked Texan in the 60m from the indoor season. She is coming off of the New Balance Nationals Indoor championships where she finished third overall with a 7.38 PR against many of America's best track and field sprinters.
Alexis Brown poses with the Haiti flag
photo submitted by Reggie Brown
Earlier in the indoor season, Brown competed at the Texas Tech Open, where she faced collegiate competition. She finished sixth overall in the 60m and first in the 200m.
As a sophomore in 2017, she won the UIL 4A state long jump title and was third in the 100m.
Brown's mother lived in Haiti until she came to America for college still has the majority of her family living in Haiti. Brown, who visits Haiti in the summers still feels connections to her mother's roots, which are also her own roots and lineage.
This could be her opportunity to contribute to the country where her other half of her family lives. It's a country that recently experienced unprecedented natural disaster destruction from the 2010 earthquake that hit the island. That quake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 on the richter scale.
Over 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings were destroyed during the quake that caused a catastrophic death toll especially with it's over 52 aftershocks that registered to 4.5 or higher in the richter scale.
Although that was eight years ago, the tragedy has is never really far from the Brown family's mind and family altogether.
The Carifta games means Brown will miss the opportunity to compete at the Texas Relays with friends and teammates and against friendly competitors, but competing at Carifta could mean more. Brown is proud to wear that Haiti national uniform and represent for her family and a country that is just as proud for her to put it on and represent them as well.
You can watch the Carifta Games LIVE on FloTrack.com.