– says Shaun Dietz
Guyana’s 17-year-old World Junior 400m silver medallist Kadecia Baird could possibly lead Guyana’s team as the number one medal prospect at the 2013 CARIFTA Games which will be held in Bahamas during the Easter Weekend next year.
Baird as well as 2010 National Under-14 schools’ sprint champion athlete Ashley Tasher are currently two of the top sprinters at the Medger Evers Preparatory College in New York, USA.
The overseas based Guyanese duo are both coached by US–based Jamaica coach Shaun Dietz, who has already set his sights on the competitions for his athletes next year.
Baird had opted out of competing at the South American Under 23 Championships last month because of the timing of the event. Baird and her coach stated that she decided not to compete at that event because she had already competed throughout a lengthy competition season and wanted to focus on her school work as well as commence her offseason workout.
However, Dietz expressed much enthusiasm about the prospect of Baird and Tasher competing at the Caribbean’s premier regional junior track and field event when contacted by Stabroek Sport over the week. Dietz said that the prospects of the duo competing at the CARIFTA Games were “definitely great”.
Baird shattered the national junior record at the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) 10th World Junior Championships in Barcelona Spain in July. The Medger Ever High School senior won the silver medal in 51.04s which was the fifth fastest US high school 400m time in history. In fact, Baird’s time is faster than the CARIFTA 400m record which was set by Jamaica’s Sonita Sutherland (51.30) in 2006 when the event was held in Guadeloupe. Baird’s time is also better than the `A’ qualifying time for the last Olympic Games and nearly four seconds faster than the 54.92s that was posted by Bahamian Rashan Brown in the event earlier this year.
Female relay teams
With locally based juniors Letitia Myles and Tiffany Carto still eligible to compete at the regional event, Guyana could be able to enter a 4x100m and 4x400m relay team at the CARIFTA Games for the first time in more than a decade. Baird and Tasher are part of the record breaking Medger Evers quartet that broke several high school records last year and their team is one of the top ranked teams in the US. Over the past decade Guyana has sent small contingents to the CARIFTA Games due to the Athletics Association of Guyana’s (AAG) failure to generate funding.
The contingents usually included a mixture of distance and sprint athletes but never enough to compile a relay team. In 2007, Guyana was represented by only one athlete at the CARIFTA Games in Turks and Caicos, Alika Morgan who medalled in both the 1500m and 3000m.
Baird’s main competition in the sprints at CARIFTA would be Angelique Strachan of Bahamas who won both the 100m and 200m at the World Junior Championships earlier. Strachan equalled Veronica Campbell-Brown’s Under 20 200m record (22.93s) last year and broke it earlier year by posting 22.85s at the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda.
