By Anmar Goodridge-Boyce
CARIFTA Games qualifier Josiah Parris is heading to the United States.
The 18-year-old Barbadian sprinter, who capped off his swansong interhouse sports at the St Michael School in stunning fashion last night, has secured a track and field scholarship to the University of Kansas.
The teenage athlete is yet to decide on a major to study but is extremely grateful to be following in the footsteps of this island’s top competitors by taking his promising athletic talents to the United States.
“I’m just thankful and excited to be accepted into this school on the scholarship. I’m very happy that I will now have the opportunity to go and further my studies and also compete on the track, which is very important. I was talking to the coaches and the response I got was very good and I think that is why I chose this school,” Parris told BARBADOS TODAY.
“For me, I would like to dedicate the scholarship to my family, friends and of course my club Quantum Leap because they have really helped. I’ve worked hard for this as well and I can see all the hard work has paid off in a big way. I can see that once you put in the work, you will get the reward.
“This season is going pretty good so far, it started off pretty slow but I believe that I will finish strong in the end because I am putting in the work. I want to better myself academically and also progress in a big way on the track” he added.
Parris who represented Barbados at the 49th edition of the CARIFTA Games in Kingston, Jamaica, last year at the National Stadium, has already booked his ticket to this year’s showpiece after clocking 47.78 seconds, dipped under the required standard of 48.35 seconds in the Under-20 boys 400-metre event at the Athletics Association of Barbados (AAB) New Year’s Classic on January 14.
Parris said he is aiming to be on the podium at the CARIFTA Games in Nassau, Bahamas from April 8-10.
Last year, Parris was part of the Barbados Under 20 boys’ 4×400-metre quartet, which also included Aren Spencer and Jahleel Armstrong. They won bronze, clocking 3:10.71 minutes.
Individually, Parris reached the semi-final of the Under-20 boys’ 200-metre in 22.38 seconds before finishing fifth in the 400-metre final in 48.19 seconds behind teammate Ross Walrond who was fourth in 47.36 seconds.
Parris also won the most outstanding male athlete award after winning the open 200 in 21.27 seconds at last year’s Barbados Secondary Schools’ Athletics Championships.
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