Far from all the action on the track another race of sorts has been playing itself out during this year’s Carifta Games; the race among US college scouts to become the first to recruit raw talent.A number of US colleges have sent their coaches and scouts to Bermuda to run the rule over some of the region’s budding talents who could be offered scholarships to help broaden their athletic and academic horizons.University of South Carolina assistant coach, Stan Rosenthal, said he has been impressed by some of the talent that has been on offer at the National Sports Centre over the past two days.“There’s a lot of really great athletes here and as you all know there’s more than just a few American universities here doing the same thing,” he said. “We are trying to find some really good athletes who are also really good students and try and convince them that our university is a good place for them to continue their athletic careers and get a good academic degree.”Rosenthal, who is a good friend of former top local runner and University of South Carolina graduate Steve Burgess, said he arrived in Bermuda with a few athletes already in mind.“We knew about some of the people before we got here so it’s more about making contact with the coaches and getting our foot in the door,” he added.University of Georgia head coach, Wayne Norton, is also among those looking for potential talent at the NSC.“We are all sort of doing the same thing and each coach is doing the same thing as far as talking to coaches and seeing the talent,” he said. “But it’s still going to come down to the students wanting to go to that particular university.“We are here just to establish relationships, see the people and then once we get a chance to contact them a little later on, hopefully we will have a bit more insight into what they are like as athletes and as people.”This year marks Norton’s first time attending the Carifta Games that has spawned the likes of Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet.“If you think about it, this meet and what it represents is the biggest group of English speaking potential college athletes except the Americans,” he said. “Outside of the US you have got more English speaking potential recruits right here, so this is probably the most important place in the world to be.“A lot of people go to European Juniors and stuff like that, but then you have language barriers. But right here so many people speak English and this is really the hot bed and really the best place to find talent.“There’s talent everywhere and one of the things that’s really intriguing is the development of some of the field events, especially the throwing events. The Caribbean is known for sprints but now you’ve got throwers all of a sudden.”