NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans track & field program continued its strong run of success in attracting top-end recruits to the Lakefront as director of track & field
Brian Johnson announced his latest signee in Julian Forde from Harrison College on Wednesday.
The Barbados native just finished his high school career that concluded with him winning the double sprint title in the U20 100-meter and 200-meter events at the 2019 Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championships (BSSAC). With the standout performance, Forde led Harrison College to the team championship.
Forde was unable to compete at the 2020 BSSAC Championships as the event was canceled due to the outbreak of COVID-19. He was however able to run at both the Louis Lynch and Barbados U20 Championships in 2020 where he claimed the individual title in the 100 at both meets, respectively.
"I am super excited to have Julian join the sprint squad in the Spring," Johnson said when discussing his latest signee. "He is a young, promising talent that will help our sprint program and also give us another leg on our men's 4x100-meter relay team."
Along with his achievements with Harrison College, one of the most revered secondary schools in Barbados, Forde was also selected by the Athletic Association of Barbados to represent the island nation at the CARIFTA Games.
Forde will enter New Orleans with personal bests of 10.47 in the 100 and 22.82 in the 200. His 100 time was not only the top ranked time in Barbados for U20 athletes, it was also ranked in the Top-1200 in the world for over 18 weeks, according to worldathletics.com.
