Former Green Island High athlete seeks place on Olympic team
PHILADELPHIA, USA — Former Green Island High athlete Roxroy Cato is hoping to shake off last season’s disappointment of being left off the Jamaican team to the IAAF World Championships by making it to the Olympic Games in London this summer.
The 24- year-old Lincoln University athlete won the Olympic Development Men’s 400m hurdles event at the 118th Penn Relays in Philadelphia last weekend in 51.46 seconds, but well short of the 49.50 seconds A qualifying standard for the Olympic Games.
Cato who has a personal best 49.4 seconds was third at the National Senior Trials last year will hope to at least get the B qualifying standard of 49.80 seconds at this weekend’s Jamaica National Jamaica International Invitational at the National Stadium.
On Saturday, Cato told Observer West he was “not far” from getting the required standards after running 50.5 seconds in Kansas the previous week.
Last year, Cato was left off the team after Isa Phillips who was fifth at Trials, achieved the A standard at a low- keyed meet in Mannheim, Germany almost on the deadline for entries and was included along with Trials winner Leeford Green and Josef Robertson.
Veteran Danny McFarlane who was fourth and had the A standard had declined a place on the team saying he would not want to deprive any of the younger athletes a place on the team to the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
In his lead up to the National Trials set for late June, Cato told the Observer West he would also be competing in Trinidad next weekend after the JN meet.
