Chinapoo, Joseph achieve Carifta 200m standard

Simplex sprinter Hakeem Chinapoo achieved the Carifta standard as he stormed to first place in the Boys Under-20 200m dash on day three of Carifta trials, on April 6, at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.

Four other sprinters met the qualifying mark including Abilene Wildcats' Daeshaun Cole who placed second in 21.26 and third-placed Trevaughn Stewart (21.55) of BURN. Ben Isr Bannister of RSS Phoenix (21.60) and Zaccheus Charles (21.74) of Point Fortin New Jets (PFNJ) were also under the Carifta time.

In the girls' equivalent, Simplex's Sierra Joseph was among four athletes to achieve the Carifta mark.

Joseph crossed the line first in 24.26 followed by Abilene Wildcats' Kayla Charles (24.36), Simplex's Akira Malaver (24.53) and Phoenix Athletics' Noemi Theodore (24.61).

In the Boys U17 200m dash, Jayden Goodbridge of BURN topped the field while hitting the Carifta mark. Goodridge won in 21.61, followed by Phoenix Athletics' Alex Seepersad (21.66) and Simplex's Kamari Diaz (21.98).

No athlete met the Carifta qualifying standard in the Girls U17 200m dash as they ran into a -0.6 wind. Finishing in the top three were Mikayl Granderson (24.78) of Alpha, followed by PFNJ's Zada Charles (25.05) and Chelcia Joseph (25.54).

Concorde's Darius Harding showed his class to win the Boys U20 5,000m event in 15 minutes and 56.99 seconds. Cougars' Isaiah Alder (16:37.06) and Mercury's Jayden Alexander (16:50.07) rounded out the top three. All three met the qualifying standard.

In the Boys U17 3,000m event, +one A Week's Christopher Sammy (9:13.35) and Concorde's Armani Dillon (9:19.2) achieved qualifying times.

The Girls 3,000m open was comfortably won by Zenith's Oshea Cummings (10:35.08) ahead of +one A Week's Aniqah Bailey (11.11.98). Both met the qualifying time.

In the Boys U20 800m, only +one A Week's pair of Omare Thompson (1:53.99) and Keiel Samuel (1:54.75) achieved the standard.

The 2025 Carifta Games will be held in TT from April 19-21. A National Association of Athletics Administration (NAAA) committee will convene after the trials to select a team, which will be later ratified by the board.