The majority of the four junior athletes who have all qualified to represent Bermuda in the IAAF World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic next month turned in outstanding performance at the New England Open Track and Field Championships in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Such were the accomplishments of Alexis Armstrong, Harold (Tre) Houston and Matthew Spring that national coach Gerry Swan was beaming with pride as he commented on their performances. The fourth was Aaron Evans, who didn’t complete his race after starting out well.

“While it was great to see majority of them perform at a very high level against some prominent competitors, the most important thing was the fact that they got some valuable experience from the event,” said Swan.

“We continue to stress the importance for athletes to aim higher, strive to reach their potential and in this case they did exactly that and for this I am indeed proud of them to see that what they achieved against collegiate and other adult athletes.”

The local athletes, all under 18 years old, will be competing among 1400 athletes from more than 170 countries in Ostrava.

Houston ran his fastest time for the 100 metres, recording an impressive 10.74 seconds to earn fourth place in his race. In the 200 metres he secured second place with his fastest time to date of 21.42 seconds.

Sixteen-year-old Spring led the men’s 1500 metres field through the first third of the race. Eric Lonergan, the eventual winner with a time of 4:00.72, then took the lead. Spring finished the race in third place with a time of 4:02:76, his second fastest time over the distance.

Alexis Armstrong competed in the women’s 800 metres with 10 others in that final and it was a first-time experience for her to have another athlete — an adult and far more experienced runner — to start in, and share, the same lane until the break line.

Armstorng finished with a time for the two-lap race of 2:20.09 and earned eighth place.

Aaron Evans competed in the men’s 800 metres but unfortunately did not complete it as he was forced to withdraw at approximately 600 metres into it.

Bermudian Michael Donawa, now residing in San Diego, California and one of several seniors cometing in the games, went on to secure second place in a time of 1:54.31.