She represented her country in sprinting on several junior and senior teams. Richards earned her Master"s Degree at Illinois in 2000, was named to the National Dean"s List as well as being an multiple times National Collegiate Athletic Association Academic All-American.
She won gold medals as part of the Jamaican 4×100 metres relay teams at the Pan American Games in 1999. Richards ran track collegiately at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign where she was six-times Big Ten Conference champion, Big Ten Freshman of the Year and three times National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I All-American.
