| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Antiguan | |||||||||||
| Born | 11 December 1948 Plymouth, Montserrat | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Sprinting | |||||||||||
| Event | 400 metres | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||
Fred Sowerby (Frederick Oliver Newgent Sowerby; born December 11, 1948) is a track and field athlete from Antigua and Barbuda, known primarily for running the 400 metres.
At the 1976 Summer Olympics, he was eliminated by finishing seventh in the quarterfinals while running more than two seconds slower than his personal best of 45.6, set earlier that year. He also anchored his team, finishing last in their qualifying round. [1] Sowerby still holds the Antiguan and Barbudan national records in the 400 metres, and 400 metres hurdles. Sowerby became the first ever flag bearer for Antigua and Barbuda when he carried the flag in the 1976 opening ceremony. [2]
Sowerby is also a three-time champion in the now defunct 600 yard dash at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. [3] Sowerby is a 1973 graduate of Murray State University, where he was elected to the Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. [4]
Sowerby, had a successful career as head track and field coach of Delaware State University, receiving several Coach of the year awards. He then relocated to his alma mater, Murray State University, where he coached the track teams to several victories until 1993.
After moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was an assistant coach for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, [5] Sowerby has continued to run in Masters athletics wearing the United States uniform, setting the World Masters Athletics World Record in the M45 and M50 age divisions in 1994 and 1999 respectively. [6] [7] Sowerby also still holds the World M45 Record for the Indoor 400, set in 1994. [8]
Sowerby currently is retired from collegiate athletics although he coaches track and is a substitute teacher at Hopkinsville High School and lives in Hopkinsville, Kentucky with his wife, Carolyn. He has six children: Brian, Vaedra, Fred, Jr., LaTonya, Terrance, and Stephon.
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and race in separate lanes for the entire course. In many countries, athletes previously competed in the 440-yard dash (402.336 m)—which is a quarter of a mile and was referred to as the "quarter-mile"—instead of the 400 m (437.445 yards), though this distance is now obsolete.
Antonio McKay Sr. is a former track and field athlete who specialized in the 400 meters.
Valerie Brisco-Hooks is an Olympian who won three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles, California, making her the first Olympian to win gold medals in both the 200- and 400-meter races at a single Olympics.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Bishop Gorman High School is a private Roman Catholic preparatory school located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The school is administered by the Archdiocese of Las Vegas. The school opened in 1954. Its mascot is a Gael, a mounted Irish Knight.
Barbara Ann Ferrell, Mrs. Edmonson is an American former track and field athlete who competed mainly in the 100-metre dash. She was the U.S. national champion in that event in 1967 and 1969 and is a member of the U.S. National Track & Field Hall of Fame.
Khadevis Robinson is an American retired middle-distance runner and currently serves as the Director of Track and Field for the TCU Horned Frogs.
Larry R. Miller is a track and field athlete who represented Antigua and Barbuda in the Olympic Games.
David Neville is an American sprinter who specializes in the 400 meters and two-time medalist in the Summer Olympics. A native of Merrillville, Indiana, Neville became the first individual track and field medalist out of Indiana University since Willie May won silver in the 110-meter hurdles in 1960.
Michael Walter Mathieu is a retired Bahamian sprinter hailing from Freeport, Grand Bahama who specialized in the 200 metres and 400 metres. He was part of the Bahamian silver medal-winning team in the men's 4×400 metres relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, running second leg and recording a 44.0 split, and the gold medal-winning team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was also a part of second place relay team at the 2007 World Championships. He won the bronze medal in the 4x400 metres relay in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Clifford 'Cliff' Wiley is a former American track and field athlete, who competed in the sprints events during his career. He is best known for winning the men's 400 metres event at the 1981 Athletics World Cup in Rome and the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas.
Afia Neliah Charles is a sprinter from Antigua and Barbuda who specializes in the 400 metre dash.
Randall Wade Cunningham II is a former American high jumper. He competed collegiately for the USC Trojans Men's track & field team. A dual-sport athlete, he also played quarterback at Bishop Gorman High School. He is a five-time Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) state champion. He is a 2-time NCAA Track Champion, and 4-time NCAA All-American, U.S. Junior National Champion, and Pan American Junior Athletics Championships Champion.
Michael Arthur Norman Jr. is an American sprinter. He previously held the world best time in the indoor 400 meters at 44.52 seconds. Outdoors, his 43.45, set at the 2019 Mt. SAC Relays, is tied as the #4 on the all time list. In 2016, he became the world junior champion in both the 200 meters and 4×100 meter relay. In 2022, he became the world champion in both the 400 meters and 4x400 meter relay.
Suziann Reid is an American-Jamaican former track and field sprinter who specialized in the 400-meter dash. She set a personal record of 50.74 seconds for the distance in 1999. She was a silver medalist with the American women's 4 × 400-meter relay team at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics. She was part of the World Championship team twice more, in 2001 and 2005, and helped the United States to silver at the 2002 IAAF World Cup and gold at the 2001 Goodwill Games.
Fredrick Lee Kerley is an American track and field sprinter. He was the Olympic silver medalist over 100 m at the 2020 Olympics and bronze medalist at the 2024 Olympics in the same event. Kerley has earned an additional six medals at the World Championships, most notably 100m gold at the 2022 edition. He has also medalled in the 400m, 4 x 100m relay, and 4 × 400 m relay and won eleven Diamond League races, including two Diamond League finals - the 400m in 2018 and the 100m in 2021.
Kendall Ellis is an American sprinter. Ellis won gold in the 4x400 m relay and bronze in the Mixed 4x400 metres at the Tokyo Olympics. She competed in the 400 meters at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships, winning gold medals as a part of prelim 4×400 m relays. As a junior, Ellis took gold in the 4×400 m relay and bronze in the 400 meters at the 2015 Pan American Junior Championships.
Rai Benjamin is an American hurdler and sprinter specializing in the 400 m and 400 m hurdles. He is the second fastest man in history in the 400 m hurdles with a personal best time of 46.17 s. He won a silver medal at his first Olympic Games in 2021 and won the 400 m hurdles race at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Benjamin also won silver medals and at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022 in the men's 400 m hurdles, and gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay in 2019 and 2021.
Joella Lloyd is an athlete from Antigua and Barbuda, who holds the national record in both the 100 metres and 200 metres sprint events.
Destiny Smith-Barnett is a Liberian-American sprinter specializing in the 60 metres and 100 metres. She was the bronze medalist at the 2023 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 60m.
