July 5, 2008

WINDSOR, Canada - Sherraine Pencil finished in fourth place in the finals of the 400-meter dash on Saturday afternoon at the 2008 Canadian Trials held at University of Windsor Stadium in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Pencil fell just short of earning a spot on the national team as the top three athletes earn the right to compete at the Olympics in Beijing, China.

The Toronto native shaved over a second off her preliminary time of 54.97 seconds, which was fifth-best in the field, to run 53.62. Only Carline Muir (51.73), Esther Akinsulie (52.00) and Jenna Martin (52.95) finished ahead of Pencil.

Despite not qualifying in 400, Pencil still has a shot at earning an invitation to run a leg on the Canadian national 4x400-meter relay, which will be determined following the trials.

Pencil will have one more shot at making the national team when she competes in the preliminaries of the 200-meter dash at 10 a.m. PT on Sunday. Should she advance out of the qualifying round, Pencil will run in the finals at 12:25 p.m.