At the end of a week in which the Covid-19 virus dominated the headlines, four more Bermuda athletes still managed to reach qualifying marks for the Carifta Games.

On what would have been the final Carifta Games trial, the two-day meet produced some outstanding performances as Adriana Argent and Jasmin Hasselkuss qualified in the 1,500 metres, Kesay Bell in the shot and Shayla Cann in the 800.

Ryan Outerbridge, who has already qualified in the 5,000, ran a personal best time of 16min, 45.29sec to win the under-20 race yesterday.

“This was supposed to be our last qualifying track meet today, and to select the Carifta team, but with the Games being postponed our athletes will get more opportunities to qualify,” said Donna Raynor, president of the BNAA, who had endured a draining past few days with the Games, which were scheduled to be held next month, being postponed.

“In reality, from our standpoint this postponement may work in our favour for two reasons; it will give our athletes more opportunities to train and race on the track. Our weather will also be more stable later than in April.

“With that being said we had some great performances this weekend with a few more reaching the qualifying standard, a few PBs and some outstanding performances.”

Argent achieved the qualifying time of 5:05 for the 1,500 with her winning time of 4:57.98 in the under-15 race. Hasselkuss also qualified in the same race, placing second in 5:04.36 to just get inside the mark.

Bell’s throw of 11.95 in the under-17 girls’ shot event was inside the standard of 11.83 s, as was Cann’s winning time of 2:18.82 in the under-17 girls’ 800. The qualifying time was 2:21.

“Even though Carifta has been postponed we will still be hosting meets for the athletes to reach the Carifta qualifying standard,” Raynor added.

“There were several other outstanding performances with these athletes getting closer and closer to the standards and improving their performances each time they compete.”

Ellie Richmond, who had already qualified in the under — 17 javelin, threw a personal best of 42.02 on Saturday, which would have seen her on the podium at the Carifta Games last year. Sancho Smith, who had already qualified in the under-17 800, had a season-best time of 2:00 flat yesterday.

Za’Kayza Parsons continues to inch closer in the 100 and 200 and long jump in the under-20 age group. Keturah Bulford-Trott, who is in school in the United States, ran well in the under-20 100 and 200, as did BHS student Taylor Hines, who will be a member of the University of Toronto track team when she joins the university in the autumn.

“With these three women and a few others, including Caitlyn Bobb we should be looking at a great 4x100 relay team in the under-20 girls,” Raynor said.

“We had a new athlete compete in the 400 in the boys’ under-20 age group, Tre McCallan running a great race.”

Another Bermudian living overseas, Diarra Powell-Burgess, returned from Canada to compete on the weekend in the 100 and 200 and long jump in the under-20 age group. He won the 100 in 11.40 and was second to Clevonte Lodge in the 200 in 22.75, with Lodge winning in 22.54.

“All in all we are very pleased with the performances today and feel our athletes will be ready to compete at the Games once the rescheduled date is announced,” Raynor added.