Former MCC track star apart of the Olympics

Former Meridian Community College track star, Vonnette Dixon, made her first Olympic appearance for her home country of Jamaica in Bejing this month.

Dixon, originally from Westmoreland, Jamaica, posted a season best 12.69 seconds in the Women's 100m Hurdles Round 1 as she won Heat 2. However, Dixon was not as fortunate in the semifinals as she placed fifth and failed to quality for the finals.

Dixon ran track for Meridian Community College in 1996 where she won the Junior College Indoor National Championship in the 55m and 200m and also won Junior College National Championship in the 100m hurdles and the 200m. After her time at MCC, she transfered to Auburn University where she was a 1999 All-American in the 60m hurdles, earned All-SEC honors in 1999 in the 60m hurdles and was the 2000 SEC Indoor Champion in the 60m hurdles. She still holds Auburn women's indoor record for the 60m hurdles (7.94); ranks sixth all-time in the 55m with a 6.82, fourth in the 60m (7.27), ninth in the 200m (24.05) and fourth in the 55m hurdles (7.65). She also holds the Auburn outdoor record in the 100m hurdles (12.93), set in 2000 and Ranks 10th all-time at Auburn in the 100m with an 11.40. She is the 16th-fastest woman in the world in 2008 in the 100m hurdles with a time of 12.71, set in January in Berlin, Germany.

Dixon finished eighth in the 100m hurdles at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, Canada with a time of 13.02 and won a silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games (Manchester, UK) in the 100m hurdles with a 12.83. She placed ninth in the 2003 World Championships in Paris with a 12.87. She also finished fifth at the 2007 World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany, with a 12.90.