Sports briefs: Former South Plains track star Shavez Hart dies in Bahamas – LubbockOnline.com

Staff Reports| Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Shavez Hart, an Olympics sprinter from the Bahamas who ran collegiately for South Plains College and Texas A&M, died early Saturday in a shooting in his home country.

The Bahamas media companies Tribune242 and the Nassau Guardian reported Hart was killed as he tried to intervene in a physical altercation between a group of men in the parking lot of a nightclub in Mount Hope, Abaco. He would've turned 30 on Tuesday.

Hart won the 100 and the 200 meters for South Plains at the 2012 NJCAA outdoor track and field championships and finished third and second in the same events the following year. He achieved all-America status 10 times for Texas A&M.

He ran personal bests of 10.10 seconds in the 100 meters, third fastest all-time by a Bahamian, and 20.23 in the 200. He was a four-time national champion in the 100 between 2014 and 2019, Tribune242 reported, and a four-time national champion in the 200 between 2014 and 2018. He competed in both events at the 2016 Olympics.

He also won a silver medal at the 2016 IAAF indoor World Championships on a Bahamas 1,600-meter relay team that included Texas Tech ex Michael Mathieu.

Blaine Wiley, a former South Plains assistant coach now on staff at Alabama, called Hart's death "absolutely devastating news."

"I had the honor of coaching 'Sparkie' at South Plains College where he remains the school record holder and won many NJCAA championships. RIP," Wiley wrote on social media.

Hart was the second former Texas A&M track star to die this year at age 29. Deon Lendore, his former teammate at A&M and an Aggies volunteer assistant coach, died in an auto accident in January in Milam County.

LCU men's golf

Lubbock Christian University will open its fall season on Tuesday at the Dallas Baptist Individual tournament. The Golf Club of Dallas is the site.

No team scores will be kept at the event, but the field is full of Lone Star Conference teams, including Arkansas-Fort Smith, St. Mary's, UT Tyler and Texas A&M International.

LCU returns six players from last season, led by senior Braxton Floyd, who averaged 75.55 strokes over 20 rounds. Other top returnees are Tian de Jager (76.45 stroke average) and Jake Bowen (77.65).

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Sports briefs: Former South Plains track star Shavez Hart dies in Bahamas - LubbockOnline.com