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PANTHER PRIDE
on the fast track at BSC
Karmin Shute only considered Birmingham-Southern because one of her high school track and field
coaches suggested it. She quickly realized it was a perfect fit.
“After hearing his suggestion, I looked into the school,” said the junior sprinter. “The family aspect of
the campus is what I really liked; everyone was so welcoming and friendly.”
Indeed, it has been a good match. The biology major from Atlanta has a 3.3 GPA and is a resident
advisor and a member of the Black Student Union. She plans to attend a physician assistant program
after graduation.
“She continues to be the kind of student-athlete that I believed she would become,” said BSC Head
Track and Field Coach Kenneth Cox. “And she shows a desire to be a leader within our women’s team
and within the campus community.”
Shute has become a valuable asset to the Panther track and field program and made another
strong outing this season after becoming the Southern Athletic Association 200-meter champion and
400-meter runner-up last spring as well as SAA Female Athlete of the Year. She also made the SAA All-
Academic Team.
In her first year of track at Birmingham-Southern, Shute couldn’t have asked for better outcomes. She
was a member of the SAA champion 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams when BSC hosted the championship
in 2014; she was a part of the spring 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championship All-American relay team, which
competed at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., and an NCAA Outdoor Championship All-American
in the 4 x 100 relay; and Shute was SAA All-Conference Champion at the outdoor 4 x 100 relay held at
Rhodes that year. This year, she made the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s
All-Region indoor honors for the 60-meter, 200-meter, and 4 x 400-meter relay.
Between her first and sophomore years, she competed in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic
National Championship at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, where her relay team
finished sixth overall. That finish awarded her Junior Olympic All-American status.
Shute said that track helps her find balance, and she looks forward to her preseason training and
conditioning after spending her days studying.
“When I’m on the track, all of my worry and stress goes away,” said Shute. “Track is a great extension
to my life, and I feel free when I’m running, especially when I compete.”
Karmin Shute
:
Fastest man
The Panther’s first-ever indoor national title in men’s track and field came
in dramatic fashion in March as BSC junior Jamal Watkins ran the 60-meter
final in 6.76 seconds, beating the runner-up by just .06 seconds. Watkins, a
business major from McDonough, Ga., ran in the 2017 NCAA Indoor National
Track and Field Championships at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. He
is now the third Panther in program history to win a national championship.
He joins the ranks of Tiarra Goode ’15, who won the 60 indoor and 100
hurdles outdoor titles in 2012, and Robert Willett, who won the 800 outdoor
title in 2013 as a senior.