Junior athletes Trey Simons, Ryan Furbert, and Kyra Scraders made the qualifying grade for the 2009 Carifta Games at Sunday's Odd Events Track Meet – the final race in the KPMG Junior Off-Road Running Series.

Simons, aged 15, lapped all the female runners in the 3,000-metre event to finish in 9 minutes, 44.44 seconds. His time surpassed the 'A' standard Carifta qualifying time of 9:55 for the Under-17 Boys.

Furbert, who has recently returned from boarding school in Jamaica, reached the 'B' standard in the same event with a time of 10:15.0 for the Under-17 Boys by finishing the race in 10:10.76.

Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) official Donna Watson also announced that Scraders, aged 11, reached the 'B' standard of 5.18.0 in the Under-17 Girls by running 5:16.12 in the 1500m.

She won the 11-12 age group race in effortless style, followed by DeZhane West in 5:24.96.

Other Junior runners competing in the third KPMG Off-Road race who came within a hair's breadth of the qualifying times included Juma Mouchette, who finished third in the 3,000 in a time of 10:16.57 and Dage Minors, who trains with Mike Watson, of Flyers Track Club, who finished fourth in a time of 10:16.93.

"As far as Trey Simons goes we are not surprised that he has made the 'A' standard as we had expected Trey to qualify for Carifta last year but he was injured," said Watson.

"With Kyra, she is only 11 years old and I am not too sure whether she will be able to make the 'A' standard, but there is a possibility.

"As far as Ryan is concerned this is not his event. We expect Ryan to reach the 'A' standard in his event, which is the 800m."

Calvin Simons of Pacers Track Club, who coaches all three athletes who have already qualified, said:

"To reach qualifying times now is an accomplishment. Carifta is in April so there is plenty of time to prepare and knock more seconds of these times."