FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason rising junior Sommer Sharpe got a chance to compete against her country's best talent.

On Thursday, Sharpe finished 12th with a time of 1:03.61 in the preliminaries of the 400-meter hurdles at the Canadian Championships, which serve as the Canadian Olympic Trials. The top eight advanced to the finals of the trials, which are being held in Edmonton, Alberta.

Sharpe, who is from Pickering, Ontario, qualified for the trials with a time of 1:00.07 when she finished second in the 400-meter hurdles at the Atlantic 10 Conference Championships in May at George Mason Stadium.

The sprinter/hurdler has won five A-10 medals at conference indoor and outdoor meets the last two years, including a pair of championships in the 4x400 in both indoor and outdoor track in 2016. She also helped lead the 4x400-meter relay team to a first-place finish at the 2016 IC4A/ECAC Championships.

Her father, Tony, was a member of the Canadian men's 4x100-meter relay team that won a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Sharpe's twin sister, Taylor, who competed at Mason in 2015 before transferring to Florida, will run in the preliminaries of the 400-meter dash at the trials on Friday.