Bermuda Athletics President Reflects On Season
President of the Bermuda National Athletics Association Donna Watson provided an update on Bermuda’s track and field athletes, covering international competitions, education plans and more.
Ms Watson said, “At the end of the IAAF World Championships unfortunately Tyrone nor Arantxa were able to make the finals. Tyrone had the same distance as the 12th place athlete but the athlete’s other jumps were further than his therefore he made the finals instead of Tyrone. Tyrone will be traveling to Europe to compete in a few other meets.
“BNAA has 3 of their boys going off to Central Arizona College. Bruce DeGrilla [long jumper], Kyle Webb [sprinter] and Juma Mouchette [distance]. They left August 14th and have settled in well.
“We also have Dage Minors going off to Franklin Pierce University, and Rachel Fox off to Winston Salem State University. This is one of the BNAA’s objectives; to get our athletes to higher education and to use their track successes to get there.
“Other athletes will continue in University including Taylor Ashley Bean, Ashley Berry, Alison Outerbridge, Tristan Joynes, Henry Stevens Carty,and  Kerri Furbert.
“Two representatives of BNAA will compete in the Pan Am Jrs, with Chas Smith and Jahnai Perinchief competing in the High Jump. Traveling with them is High Jump Coach Rohaan Simons, and the team heads out Wednesday August 21st for Medellin, Colombia. At the completion of this competition Chas will head off to university in Canada, and will be training with a track coach while he is there.
“Of course our Senior athletes are also moving in new directions with Aaron Evans heading to Oregon Track Club, Tre Houston heading to Texas, Shianne Smith heading back to France, Arantxa King heading back to Kentucky and we are hoping to settle a place for Jasmine Brunson who just graduated from Clemson University.
“All in all the BNAA has had a great season with several of our athletes producing good performances especially our juniors Kyrah Scraders and Justin Donawa. We are looking forward to next year when we have another very busy competition season.
“I think our first year with National Coach Troy Douglas has been very successful with several new initiatives put in place. We have had success from our athletes and new coaches like Sonya Smith and Rohaan Simons coming on board,” concluded Ms Watson.
