BATON ROUGE — Four athletes with ties to the LSU track and field team are headed to Sydney for the Summer Olympics in September after qualifying at the Jamaican Trials in Kingston this past weekend, while two others are strong candidates to join that list.
Peta-Gaye Dowdie, a 19-time All-American who concluded her collegiate career last month, won the Jamaican women’s 100-meter title on Friday evening in a time of 11.19 seconds, making the squad. While she finished fifth in the 200-meter dash and did not qualify in that event, Dowdie will also run on the Jamaican 4×100-meter relay team.
Former NCAA 100-meter hurdles champion Astia Walker, a 13-time All-American at LSU from 1996-98, qualified for the Olympics in the 200-meter dash after finishing third at the trials with a time of 22.90. Walker, who teamed with Dowdie to win the 1997 NCAA 4×100-meter relay title, will also run on the short relay for Jamaica.
Former Lady Tiger All-American Celena Clarke finished fifth in the 400-meter dash, but will compete in her first Olympics as a member of the Jamaican 4×400-meter relay.
Claston Bernard, preparing for his junior season at LSU, will make his first Olympic appearance at the tender age of 21. Bernard was the NCAA runner-up in the decathlon this season and will represent Jamaica in Sydney. Bernard has won the SEC decathlon title in each of his first two seasons in a Tiger uniform.
Keisha Spencer and Suzette Lee, both NCAA triple jump champions during their careers at LSU, claimed the top two spots in their signature event at the Jamaican Trials, but still need to meet the Olympic standard in order to earn a trip to Sydney. Lee, a 1996 Olympian, has come within three inches of the qualifying mark, while Spencer needs to improve by roughly six inches.
Both have until Sept. 11 to meet the qualifying standard.