July 12, 2010

MIRAMAR, Fla. - University of Maryland All-American Kiani Profit added an international victory to her impressive list of accomplishments Sunday when she won the heptathlon at the North America-Central-America-Caribbean Under-23 Championships.

Competing for Team USA, Profit scored 5,576 points to win, which drew many of the top young athletes from around the region. She won six of the seven events en route to her third-best point total of the year.

She posted career-best marks in both the shot put (39-8.75) and 200-meter dash (24.32), with her shot put mark adding nearly a foot to her best. Profit also won the 100 hurdles (14.21), the long jump (18-4.50) and the 800 (2:19.19). She tied for first in the high jump (5-6.50) and was second among the three competitors in the javelin (120-2).

Dorcas Akinniyi, a rising sophomore at Wisconsin who also competed for Team USA, was second with 5,204 points, with Makeba Alcide of St. Lucia in third at 5,172.

Profit set Maryland school records in both multi-event competitions during 2010, breaking records that stood for at least 25 years in both the heptathlon (5,686 points at the ACC Championships) and pentathlon (4,242 points at the NCAA Indoor Nationals).

A rising senior from Pasadena, Calif., Profit earned two All-America certificates this season by finishing second at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Nationals.

Overall, Profit helped Team USA compile a record 74 medals at this year's meet. The NACAC Athletic Association's U-23 Championships are held every two years in one of the 32 member nations of the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association, one of six regional athletics associations affiliated with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

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