George's, Grenada, next month with more aiming to reach the mark in the final qualifying meet tomorrow night at the National Sports Centre.

Competition tomorrow should be of a high standard thanks to the presence of athletes from the University of Mass at Lowell.

The college team arrived in Bermuda over the weekend with 24 athletes who will compete in sprints, high jump, middle distance, javelin, discus and the 4x100 metres relay.

And in an attempt to lure some of the Island's premier road runners -- namely Kavin Smith and Anna Eatherley -- the Bermuda Department of Tourism are offering six attractive prizes which include weekends for two at Pompano and Stonington for the top finishers in the men's 5,000 metres and women's 3,000 metres. Other prizes on offer are dinner for two at Hamilton Princess and Horizons and lunch for two at White Sands.

"This adds character to the meet, hopefully we will get the locals to come out,'' said Steve Burgess, Tourism's Sports Promotion Manager.

The team that Bermuda will take to Carifta is one of the biggest in the last few years. The bulk of the squad will be under-17 girls, with Gabriel Wilkinson and Richard Walcott, who competed last year, the only two males to have qualified so far.

Wilkinson will compete in the shot and discus while Walcott has qualified for the 800 metres.

Also reaching qualifying marks are Michelle Trott in the 100 and 200 metres, Danielle Watson in the 200 and 400 metres, Shar-dae Whitter in the 1500 metres, high jumper Zinzi Swan, and Brittney Marshall (12) and Crystal Hayward in the shot. Hayward was the last qualifier, reaching the mark on Monday night.

Two other females who have qualified are Latanya Dickinson in the under-20 shot and Tiffany Eatherly who reached the mark in the 800 metres. But Eatherley will miss the trip because of a bad knee injury.

Another leading contender for a place in the Carifta team is sprinter and high jumper Dennis Joell who will be concentrating on the high jump tomorrow night in his last attempt to secure a spot.

"I think this will be excellent preparation for Carifta, they (University of Mass) are a Division Two school and Carifta is probably at that level,'' said Mike Swan, BTFA vice president for track and field.

"This will be good competition for Michelle Trott, a 100 and 200 specialist and this will be her first time in Carifta. Danielle Watson is a 400 specialist who is running under 60 seconds as a 13-year-old.'' Added Swan: "We're looking to grow the Carifta team year by year so we can get back into contention.''