Barbados has another track and field qualifier for the Commonwealth Games, slated to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, from July 27 to August 2.
United States-based middle-distance runner Sonia Gaskin qualified in the women’s 400 metres at last month’s Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Texas.
The Kansas State runner clocked 52.95 seconds in the preliminaries and lowered her time to 52.72 in the finals when she finished fourth to go under the qualifying requirement of 52.80 seconds.
She joins her former Parkinson Memorial schoolmate Nadia Cummins in qualifying in the quarter-mile.
A third Parkinson product in experienced sprinter Jade Bailey has also qualified for the Commonwealth Games in both the women’s 100 and 200 metres.
At the same Big 12 meet on May 18, former Lodge schoolboy Tramaine Maloney of Texas Tech was third in the men’s 110-metre hurdles in 13.89. The race was won by Jordan Moore in 13.64 seconds.
Gaskin also ran another personal best last weekend in the 800 metres when she qualified for the NCAA finals at the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
She ran 2:06.43 minutes in the heats and returned in the semi-finals to clock 2:04.79 to qualify for the NCAA Division 1 finals which start on June 11 and finish on June 14 in Eugene, Oregon.
To date, 13 athletes have met the required Commonwealth qualifying standard in their respective events while the times for sprinter Ramon Gittens in the men’s 100 and 200 metres at a meet in Trinidad and Tobago are still to be confirmed.
Apart from Gaskin, Bailey and Cummins, the other qualifiers are Shane Brathwaite, Greggmar Swift and Ryan Brathwaite in the men’s 110-metre hurdles; sprinters Andrew Hinds and Levi Cadogan in both the 100 and 200 metres; Kierre Beckles and Sade-Mariah Greenidge in the women’s 100-metre hurdles; Sada Williams and Shavonne Husbands in the 200 metres and Akela Jones in the long jump.
