Nine athletes from secondary school boys champions The St Michael School, including CARIFTA gold medallist Jonathan Miller, have been offered full track scholarships to American universities.
The scholarship opportunities were proffered after the 14-member team, comprising eight boys and six girls, performed impressively at the Bojangles Invitational in South Carolina last weekend.
Miller captured a gold medal at the recent CARIFTA Games in The Bahamas with a winning leap of 15.62 metres in the Under-20 Boys’ triple jump.
Kyle Gale, who was disqualified for a lane infringement in the Under-17 Boys’ 400 metres but gained silver in the 400 metres hurdles, clocking 54.45 seconds, is among the nine.
Also a part of the group are CARIFTA bronze medallist in the Under-17 Boys’ 100 metres in a time of 10.86 seconds, Darian Clarke, and Antoni Hoyte-Small, who helped Barbados to gain bronze in the Under-20 Boys’ 4×100 metres and silver in the 4×400 metres at the CARIFTA Games, when they finished in 40.43 seconds and 3:08.31 seconds, respectively.
Matthew Clarke and Nathan Fergusson, who got a bronze in the 4×100 relay are also included in the nine.
The other three athletes who got offers are Antonio Farrell, Rhea Hoyte and Asia Foster.
The universities associated with the scholarship opportunities include the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, North Carolina State University, St Augustine’s University and Purdue University.
Cougars Coach Gabriel Burnett told NATION SPORT he was extremely pleased with the athletes’ level of performance among more than 2 500 athletes from 20 states at event.
“They performed way better than we expected. In some cases it took the number two or three performance in all of America to beat them.
“I’m very pleased and excited about these athletes, as they really impressed the other athletes and coaches who were there,” he said. (RG)
