The following are updates from the World University Games being held in Kazan, Russia. Student athletes from the Virgin Islands compete against other students from all over the world.
David Walters ran a 10.62 in his 100m semi-finals. He ran his semi-finals in the rain to place 7th and finish 15th of the 69 athletes entered in the event.
Ninfa Barnard followed Walters, giving a valiant effort in her race. She ran a 2:11.37 in her semi-finals in the 800m.The pace was very fast, and Barnard did her best to stay with them. She ran three parts of the race faster than she had ever run before, but had to continue for another 200m to finish. She finished in 8th place in her semi-finals and 16th of the 28 athletes entered in the event.
It is great to see our Virgin Islands athletes compete favorably in a wide range of events. Earlier, Hasheem Abdul-Halim finished 13th overall in triple jump of the 23 athletes who competed in the event. Today, we had Ninfa Barnard make history as being the first Virgin Islands middle distance runner to make it to the semi-finals in a world event. We look forward to the V.I. men in the 4 X 100 meter relay, two in the long jump, and one in the 110 hurdles. Therefore, there are four more chances to make it to the finals and, hopefully, bring home medals.
The University Games Athletics page is: http://kazan2013.ru/en/sports/10000. St. Croix Track Club Web site is stcroixtrackclub@yahoo.com.
