Field athletes, distance runners shine at Carifta trials

SIXTEEN athletes achieves Carifta standards on Saturday as Carifta trials were held at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet. The 2023 Carifta Games will be held in Bahamas from April 7-10.

The boys under-17 long jump had the most qualifiers. Searching for a distance of 6.37 metres, Imanni Matthews (6.92) of Kaizen Panthers, Jahaziel David (6.42) of Mercury and Tyrique Vincent (6.42) of Concorde Athletic Club, all exceeded the distance.

Janae De Gannes of Concorde easily took care of business in the girls under-20 long jump, with a flight of 5.76 metres across the sandpit, surpassing the 5.55m standard.

Jinell Campbell of Mason Hall Police Youth Club cleared the Carifta mark of 11.70 metres in the girls under-20 discus, with a best throw of 12.30 metres.

Jeron James of Mercury eclipsed the 47.32 requirement for the boys under-20 discus, when his fourth-round effort landed 48.64m.

Peyton Winter of Burnley Athletic Club landed five of her six throws over the 12.15m mark in the girls under-17 shot put, with a premium effort of 13.32m.

Javelin thrower Kenika Cassar of Toco Tafac landed the iron spear at 40.30m, over the 37.69m standard.

A number of distance athletes also showed they are ready for Carifta. Kayleigh Forde of One-a-Week Athletic Club (OAW) surpassed the standard (five minutes, 2.23 seconds) for the girls under-20 1500m, clocking four minutes 57.91 seconds.

Aniqah Bailey of OAW and 13-year-old Oshea Cummings of Zenith Athletic Club fulfilled their dreams in the girls under-17 1500m. Bailey won the event in four minutes 57.62 seconds, ahead of Cummings (5:07.37), inside the (5:08.18) Carifta mark.

Tafari Waldron of Cougars Athletic Club led the way in the boys under-20 1500m, stopping the clock at four minutes 6.28 seconds. Omare Thompson of OAW followed in (4:08.86) to better the (4:11.47) Carifta standard.

The NAAA selectors may have a headache to choose a sprint contingent as only two athletes bettered the respective sprint standards on the day.

Alexxe Henry expertly manoeuvred the three rounds of sprinting in the girls under-17 100 metres to flash a personal best of 11.77 seconds in the final, to dip under the (12.04) standard.

Cyril Sumner of Memphis Pioneers bettered the Carifta 48.42 time for the boys under-20 400m. Summer clocked 48.32 seconds. Kyle Williams of Burnley (48.50) and Joshua Mascal (48.51) of Fyzabad Athletics, came agonisingly close.

Khadeem Chinapoo of Simplex won the boys under-17 100m final in 11.16 seconds, but fell short of the 11.04 standard.

Reneisha Andrews could not achieve the girls under-20 100m mark of 11.80 seconds, as her winning time was 12.01 seconds.

Revell Webster of Concorde also missed the 10.63 mark in the boys under-20 100m, as he produced 10.78 seconds in the final, after posting 10.75 in the semi-final.

Other winners who failed to hit the standards were Kaori Robley of Kaizen Panthers who won the girls under-17 400m in 58.29 seconds, in search of 56.43.

Jaden Clement of Maximising Athletic Potential stopped the clock at 50.74 in the boys under-17 400m, outside of the 50.32 required, and Rasheeda Cave of RSS Phoenix time of 58.36 in the girls under-20 400m, fell short of the 55.42 standard.