Two sets of sibling sprinters from Trinidad and Tobago take their marks at Liberty
The most popular sports in Trinidad and Tobago, the southernmost Caribbean Island nation, are cricket, soccer, and track & field. But not far behind is the lesser-known sport of dragon boat racing, a favorite of Liberty University sprinter Akilah Lewis, who transferred from the University of Mississippi in the fall to join her younger brother, Omari, a senior on the Flames Track & Field team.
The crew-like competition, which dates back 2,500 years to China and was in the original Olympiad in Greece, involves rowing a boat decorated like a dragon at ramming speed, with upwards of 20 team members paddling to the beat of a coxswain stationed near the prow drumming on a steelpan, Trinidad and Tobago’s national instrument.
Left to right: Revell Webster, Omari Lewis, Reese Webster, Akilah Lewis
Just as fast and furiously as rowers paddle through the water, the Lewis siblings have churned their fleet feet with explosive energy on Liberty’s indoor and outdoor tracks.
Akilah, who is pursuing her MBA in Human Resources, helped the Ole Miss 4×100-meter outdoor women’s relay team sprint to the NCAA Division I national championship before representing Trinidad and Tobago in that event at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
Omari helped spur the Flames to two team Conference USA titles last year, and he won two individual CUSA titles. He bettered his Liberty program-record time by winning the 60-meter dash in 6.67 seconds at the 2024 CUSA Indoor Championships last February at the Liberty Indoor Track & Field Complex, where he will try to defend his title on March 1. He won the men’s 100-meter with a wind-aided time of 9.88 — the fastest in the world at that point in 2024 — at the CUSA Outdoor Championships May 12 at the University of Texas El Paso. He helped Trinidad and Tobago place 12th in the World Athletics Championships 4×100 relay in 2023 in Budapest and also ran the 4×100 for his country at the World Athletics Relays last year. He was an Olympic hopeful for the Paris Games but injured his hamstring at an Olympic trials sprint in Guyana.
Akilah and Omari Lewis
“Not making it to the Olympics this year was a hard pill to swallow for me to be honest, but I know that God doesn’t make any mistakes, and He has a plan,” Omari said in November. “I’m going to use all that I’ve been through to fuel me toward the blessings He has for me in the future.”
Omari is pursuing a B.S. in Business Administration & Data Analysis – Economics and is a tremendously well-rounded student-athlete. He was presented the 2023-24 Conference USA Winter Spirit of Service Award, given to student-athletes with exceptional community service, academic standing, and participation in their sport. He represents Flames Track & Field on Liberty’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was also named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic team for 2023-24.
The Lewises aren’t the only sibling pair at Liberty from Trinidad and Tobago with an Olympic connection. Senior Reese Webster and her brother, Revell, a sophomore, grew up competing in the same Concorde Athletics Trinidad Track Club as the Lewises.
Revell and Reese Webster
Reese is finishing her B.S. in Business Administration: Finance and was supposed to be on Trinidad and Tobago’s 4×100 relay team for the Summer Games after qualifying for that event at the 2024 World Athletics Relays. But like Omari, her road to Paris was derailed by injury.
At Liberty, she established nine new standards in the 60- and 200-meter dashes during the 2023-24 indoor season, concluding with her fastest time of 7.31 seconds in a CUSA 60-meter preliminary heat en route to winning that event and a record 23.27 seconds to finish runner-up in the CUSA 200 final.
“I saw some of the best PRs (personal record times) I’ve seen in my life (last year) in both indoor and outdoor, and I hope they continue to gradually decrease so I can eventually move on to the professional leagues,” she said. “That was not a calling that came to me at first, but eventually, when I saw how far my talent could take me … I was about to be in the Olympics, and that was not even me at my peak yet.”
Her brother Revell, who is pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science, is coming off a solid freshman season for the Flames and has also enjoyed international success. He finished sixth in both the 60 and 200 at the CUSA Indoor Championships and was a member of his country’s 4×100 relay team, alongside his teammate Omari, in the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Assistant Coach Kristian “KD” Dillard, who works with the Flames and Lady Flames sprinters, said the Websters have become an important part of the Liberty family and his own family as big siblings to his daughter.
“The good thing about Revell and Reese is what you see is what you get,” Dillard said. “They are open, they are loving, they are caring. They’re great for recruiting. You add Omari and Akilah and you kind of have a full atmosphere of both fun and working hard, and it’s great.”
Both sets of siblings have their sights set on the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles and beyond.
“I definitely have a shot at making it next time,” Revell said. “Los Angeles is a huge goal that I will achieve. Omari and I try to push each other and get each other ready for that big world stage.”
With her eligibility expired for indoor track, Akilah Lewis hopes to carry her success into her final collegiate outdoor season this spring.
“Post-college, I want to get a contract so that I can continue running track at the professional level,” she said. “In 2028, I plan to be in Los Angeles, and in between (that and the Olympic Trials) I will compete in the World Championships and Pan Am Games.”
All four will rely on their faith, leaning on God’s promises and His will as they take their marks on the collegiate and world stages.
“In every race, there is only one champion, but at the end of the day, if you view it as worship toward God and you give your all, you’ll be satisfied with the result that you get once you put your best foot forward,” Omari said.
“With the season that I had, that actually helped strengthen my faith,” Revell said. “In that sense, faith is now a huge part of track & field for me. So now we don’t just race for ourselves, or race for a medal, or race for a coach, or race because we’re on scholarship. We truly race for the glory of God and to worship Him and to show every person who watches us that this is where you can go when you put everything in God, and this is where you can reach when your focus is solely on Him.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Two members of Liberty’s Track & Field team were at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Senior Akilah Lewis ran the 4×100 relay for Trinidad and Tobago. Teammate Shania Adderley, from the Bahamas, qualified in the mixed 4×400 relay; she didn’t get to compete but was part of the Bahamas delegation.
