BATON ROUGE – Eight athletes with ties to the LSU Track & Field program will chase their Olympic dream in Jamaica this weekend with the four-day 2012 Jamaican National Senior Championships ready to kick off on Thursday afternoon at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Athletes competing at the National Stadium this weekend are looking to earn a spot on Jamaica’s teams at the Olympic Games and North American, Central American & Caribbean Championships this summer.
The Jamaican National Senior Championships will debut on Thursday as the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials kicks off its second weekend of action at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Among the Tigers and Lady Tigers looking to make their return to the Olympic stage this weekend are Isa Phillips and Nickiesha Wilson, who represented Jamaica in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2008 Olympics at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium in Beijing, China, four years ago. Each claimed a ninth-place finish in the 400 hurdles in 2008 while just missing a spot in their first Olympic final.
Both Phillips and Wilson have also represented Jamaica in each of the last three World Championships as they lined up in the 400-meter hurdles in 2007, 2009 and 2011. Phillips was crowned NCAA champion in the event in 2007, while Wilson followed as the NCAA champion on the women’s side in 2008.
Two other members of Jamaica’s World Championship team from a year ago are poised to compete at the Olympics for the first time in their career as senior standout Riker Hylton will run the 400-meter dash and junior Damar Forbes will step onto the long jump runway in Kingston this weekend.
Hylton is the reigning Jamaican champion in the one-lap race when he raced to a personal record of 45.30 seconds in the national final a year ago to earn his trip to the 2011 IAAF World Championships.
Not only did Hylton line up in the open 400 meters in Daegu, South Korea, a year ago, but he also ran the third leg for Jamaica’s 4×400-meter relay that captured the World Championships bronze medal with their run of 3 minutes, 0.10 seconds in the championship final. Hylton joined with Allodin Fothergill, Jermaine Gonzales and Leford Green in winning the bronze medal last summer.
Forbes wrapped up his junior season in 2012 as the NCAA long jump silver medalist for both indoors and outdoors as one of the world’s emerging prospects in the event. Not only has Forbes posted a 2012 season best of 26 feet, 8 ¼ inches, but he set a lifetime PR of 27-0 a year ago to achieve the Olympic “A” qualifying standard.
The Lady Tigers will be represented by one member of their school-record setting 4×400-meter relay with senior Jonique Day preparing to run in the 400-meter prelims on Thursday. Day, who set her lifetime best of 52.11 in the NCAA quarterfinals on May 25, also anchored the Lady Tigers to this year’s NCAA silver medal in the 4×400 relay with a school-record setting run of 3:24.59 in the national final.
This weekend’s action will also feature former 15-time All-American Samantha Henry-Robinson as she is ready to line up in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes at Kingston’s National Stadium.
The future of the Lady Tiger program will even be on display at the Jamaican Championships this weekend as Class of 2012 recruits Natoya Goule and Nikita Tracey will chase their Olympic dream.
Goule is one of the top recruits to join the NCAA Division I ranks in the Class of 2012 following a strong two-year stint at South Plains College. Goule eyes her first Jamaican title in the women’s 800 meters after setting her lifetime PR of 2:01.45 in the final at the Jamaican National Senior Championships last summer for the silver medal. Goule also owns a best of 51.52 in the 400 meters during her career.
Tracey ended her two-year stint at Oklahoma Baptist University by defending her National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics title in the 400-meter hurdles with a 2012 seasonal best of 57.33. She owns a best of 56.89 that was set in winning the bronze medal at the 2009 NACAC Under-23 Championships.