Rice University Owls track team runner and hurdler Andrea Blackett

Black and white photograph of Rice University Owls track and field athlete Andrea Blackett, as she competes in the Hurdles, accompanied by text headlining her achievement and entry into the Rice Athletic Hall of Fame.Caption reads: In the transition from the Southwest Conference to the Western Athletic Conference, few Rice athletes shined as brightly as two-time Olympian and five-time World Championships competitor Andrea Blackett. The Barbados native was a member of the Owls’ track and field team from 1995-1997, capturing NCAA all-America honors indoors and outdoors, as well as SWC and WAC individual golds. Blackett earned all-America recognition in 1996 in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4x400, but her biggest achievement came in 1997 at the NCAA indoor championships in Indianapolis, Ind., where she ran the lead leg on Rice’s 4x400. Her 53.8 carry paced the Owls to their first-ever national indoor track win as the squad clocked 3:34.44 to down traditional powers Texas, Nebraska and Florida State. In 1997 she also claimed all-America status outdoors in the 400 hurdles and 4x400, winning silver in the hurdles with a school-record 54.78. She won the SWC 400-meter hurdles in 1995, and added a WAC title in that event in 1997. She also helped the Owls to victory in the 4x400 at the ’97 WAC outdoor meet. As a member of the Barbados team at the 1997 IAAF world championships in Athens, Blackett placed eighth in the 400H. She won Commonwealth Games gold in 1998, and set a national record of 53.36 in 1999 to take fourth at the world championships in Sevilla. Blackett was the Pan American Games silver medalist in 1999, and added a bronze in 2003. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Blackett was a semifinalist in the 400H. She competed at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, and in 2003 she was sixth at the world in Paris. After competing in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Blackett returned to the worlds in 2005 to claim sixth place. Blackett has continued her involvement with the Rice women’s track and field team, transitioning from student-athlete to coach.Rice Athletic Hall of Fame (poor quality original image