The diminutive athlete exploded on the tracks of the four-day meet in California amidst a talented field of half-milers to record her season best time of 2:03.17. Though it was her first outdoor 800m for the year, Burnett already had overall season-leading 2:04 runs during the indoor season.

She chalked up another victory against Butler’s Becky Lyne, 2000 NCAA 800m title-holder Chantee Earl and Tamika Williams of the Nike Farm Team, 2003 silver medallist Nicole Cook of Tennessee, season leader Tiffany Burgess of California and Puerto Rican Sandra Moya of Santa Monica TC.

The victory came as “good news” for Burnett and her coach Mark Elliott as she comes off a month-long lay-off recuperating from physical injuries and partial psychological anguish since her surprising loss at the national collegiate indoor championships a month ago in Arkansas.

Elliott said, “She is back to her smart, tactical, powerful running self,’ while describing Burnett’s performance.

In separate comments both Burnett and Elliott felt that she could have dipped into the “2:02 or better timing” had she “run through the tape and desist from constantly looking at the clocks.”

“It was wonderful to see her stamp such authority over the other bigger runners, however we have some work to do for future clashes,” Elliott opined.

His pride overflowed onto one of Burnett’s former Lady Tigers team-mates, Grenada-born Neisha Bernard-Thomas who made a big improvement in reducing her personal best by almost two seconds to 2:04.87 placing seventh in the race. Bernard-Thomas now carries the LSU mantle passed from Burnett.

Burnett’s win came in her first post-collegiate half-mile as she has effectively concluded her collegiate athletics eligibility, but will continue her preparations for elite meets later this year, under the tutelage of Elliott.

The Louisiana State University’s distance coach had guided her to top-three placing in five of six conference and national individual and relay races she contested, resulting in a national title, two SEC champion titles, three All-American awards and two NCAA/SEC ‘rings’ during the two indoor seasons she represented her college, LSU.

The Guyanese student-athlete is expected to compete in a few more elite meets in the U.S.A. in the ensuing weeks, before venturing to Europe for training and competitions at the end of the current academic semester. Last year, Burnett used a similar stint in Germany, France and Switzerland to reduce her personal best (PB) time at 800m, prior to competing at the Commonwealth Games in England where she reached the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Burnett was one of two national collegiate sports champions in a list of 178 LSU students to be honoured with an excellence, leadership, dedication medallion for maintaining a GPA above 3.0.

The honours were bestowed at an Academic Excellence Gala hosted by Cox Communications, Cox Sports Television and the Tiger Athletic Foundation.