By Juanita Hooper
Following last weekend’s CARIFTA Games Trials staged at the Guyana Defence Force ground Camp Ayanganna, five of the country’s junior track and field stars have been able to make the qualifying standards set out by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG).
The five are Alita Moore, Tirana Mitchell, Cassie George, Avon Samuels and Jason Yaw.
Mitchell and George were double qualifiers.
Mercury Fast Laners (MFL) track star Mitchell, qualified in the girls U17 100 and 200 metres with times of 11.9 and 24.5 seconds.
George, of Linden, erased both standards with her 2:16.3 seconds and 4:44.1 seconds in the girls U17 800 and 1500 metres respectively while Samuels equalled the standard running 25 seconds flat in the 200 metres.
Moore, of the Police Progressive Youth Club (PPYC), bounded past the standard with her 11m 70cm leap in the girls’ U20 triple jump after narrowly missing the 100 metres mark on day one. She clocked 11.8 seconds and was one hundredth of a second off the 100 metres standard which was set at 11.7 seconds.
Yaw was the only junior to qualify after running the fastest 200 metres at the Trials. The quarter-miler left his competitors in his dust turning in a blistering 21.9 seconds.
The CARIFTA athletes have a final opportunity to make the qualifying standards this Sunday when the Running Brave Athletics Club will stage a Developmental Meet at the same venue.
Qualifiers will be selected by the AAG for the XLII CARIFTA Games to be held in Nassau, The Bahamas at the Robinson National Stadium from March 29 to April 1.
Last year, Andrea Foster was the only athlete to medal for Guyana at the CARIFTA Games held in Bermuda. Foster won bronze in the girls U17 1500 metres clocking 4:57.28 seconds.
The official list of athletes should be sent to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) in The Bahamas by March 11, the day before the hearing of the injunction filed by the immediate past President of the AAG Colin Boyce which challenges the results of the election of office bearers at the AAG’s annual general meeting held on January 20.
If the injunction is not withdrawn it is unclear whether the CARIFTA team will be able to represent Guyana at the Games during the Easter weekend.
The AAG constitution requires for a club to consist of 10 active athletes, participate in 80% of the AAG competitions and not to be indebted to the association (in pertinence to the injunction).
Hutson had defeated Boyce by six votes to three. However, Boyce is claiming that three of the clubs that voted were unconstitutional.
Stabroek Sport was unable to contact Hutson with respect to whether the AAG would be able to send a team to the games in Nassau, Bahamas.
