The Tribune

Hurdler Denisha Carwright and sprinter Wanya McCoy have certainly ramped up both of their individual performances in May to run away with this edition of the Tribune Athletes of the Month honours.

The Tribune Sports section will recognise the efforts of athletes across all sporting disciplines and award a male and female candidate at the end of each respective month, culminating with the athlete of the year.

With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on the horizon, Cartwright and McCoy were the latest Bahamian athletes to join the growing list of Olympic qualifiers for The Bahamas and they both achieved the feat this month.

Denisha

Cartwright -

Female

Winner

There might not be enough words to describe the recent stretch Cartwright is having in track and field. The 24-year-old switched her tassel from the right side of her graduation cap to the left and watched the curtains close on what was without a shadow of a doubt an amazing collegiate career over at Minnesota State University.

She wrapped up her collegiate tenure on a high note, adding two more national titles to her long list of accolades and picking up a silver medal finish at the NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships in Emporia, Kansas this past weekend.

Cartwright was in top form in the 100m hurdles event hosted at the Welch Stadium. She ran a blistering 12.37 seconds in her speciality event to take home one of two national titles. She then doubled up on the victories by prevailing in 200m finals as well.

She clocked a personal best 22.91 seconds in that respective event to hoist two national titles.

Before the weekend was over, the top hurdler would also nab a silver medal in the 100m finals. She secured the second position of the event with a time of 11.14 seconds. She concluded her collegiate tenure 16 career All-America trophies and five career national titles.

If that was not enough, Cartwright also became the third Bahamian to qualify for the Olympic Games in the 100m hurdles event.

Earlier this month, she competed at the NSIC Outdoor Championships where she not only broke NSIC record, facility record and Mankato State programme record but also qualified for the Olympics with a time of 12.60 seconds in the 100m hurdles event.

The decorated hurdler will be one to watch at next month’s BAAAs Junior and Senior Nationals set for June 26-28.

Wanya

McCoy -

Male

Winner

McCoy nearly qualified for both the 100m and 200m events in May but only hit the Olympic qualifying standard for the 200m sprint.

Competing at the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Gainesville, Florida, McCoy ran a swift 19.93 seconds in the 200m event to dip under the qualifying mark of 20.16 seconds. He ended this event in second place.

He was dangerously close to hitting the 10.00 Olympic qualifying mark in the 100m event but he ran a personal best time of 10.02 seconds at the same meet.

The 21-year-old also wrapped up this event in the second spot.

McCoy closed out the month qualifying in both the 100m and 200m events for the upcoming NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships set for June 8 in Eugene, Oregon.

Stay tuned for June’s Tribune Athletes of the Month.