Tobago youth star at Juvenile championships

JANAE De Gannes, Ben Israel Bannister and Nathaniel Charles were the outstanding Tobago athletes at the National Amateur Athletic Association Juvenile Championships, held at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, in Trinidad, on June 16 and 17.

De Gannes of Zenith Athletic Club won gold in the girls U13, 100m, ball throw, high jump and long jump events along with silver medal in the 200m.

The anticipated showdown between De Gannes and Janika Jordan, of Cougars track and field club in the 100m sprint did not materialise as Jordan was disqualified from the finals due to a false start. De Gannes went on to win in an impressive time of 12.74 seconds

Jordan made amends in the 200m where she won gold in 25.47 seconds ahead of De Gannes, who clocked 25.86 seconds

De Gannes' height over the cross bar in the high jump event was 1.55m, while her distance across the sand pit in the long jump was 5.17m. De Gannes' winning effort in the ball throw was 41.79m.

Bannister of Mason Hall Police Youth Club was a class above his competitors in the boys U13, 800m and 1,000m events.

Bannister the national under 12, 800m record holder won Sunday’s 800m in a time of 2 minutes and 28.53 seconds, 3 seconds ahead of unattached athlete Andre Joseph who was timed at 2 minutes, 31. 68 seconds.

Bannister was even more impressive in the 1000m recording a time of 3 minutes 14.65 seconds to his nearest challenger Kaiyin Morris of Cougars, who finished 9 seconds later in 3 minutes 23.76 seconds. Bannister also placed third in the boys U13, 400m.

Charles of Tobago Jaguars Athletic Club rounded off a successful season by claiming double gold medals in the boys U11, 80 and 150m sprint finals.

Charles' time in the 80m was 10.55 seconds, while he established 19.94 seconds in the 150m.

Other gold medal winners were Oshea Watson of Zenith in the boys U9 ball throw and Jaidi James of Tobago Falcons Athletic Club in the boys U13 high jump.

Winning silver medals were: Anya Jordan of Mason Hall in the girls U9, 60 and 80m; Oteilia Joefield, also of Mason Hall in the girls under 11 High Jump; Amarley Henry and Q’ Jae Stewart of Jaguars in the boys under 9, 60 meters and girls under 11, 800 meters respectively; also Jael Morgan of Mercury Athletic Club in the girls under 13 discuss

Three of the seven Tobago clubs which competed at the championships finished in the top ten. Zenith ended in fourth position with 141 points, Mason Hall finished in eighth place with 86 points and Jaguars placed ninth with 84 points.

Winning the title for the second consecutive year was Cougars, who amassed 496 points, Memphis Pioneers was second with 211 points and Simplex was third with 168 points