By Orin Davidson
Guyana’s Olympic Games sprint prospect Kadecia Baird is stepping up plans for her best ever outdoor season this year and hopes to better her personal best performance.
Following her debut run at the Adidas Diamond League meet in New York yesterday where she represented her High School in the girls 4x400m relay event, Baird said she is working hard to better the 51.04 seconds display that won her a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Spain last year.
“ My coach and myself have set our sights on going all the way to better my personal best and we will start things rolling at the Nationals (United States High School Outdoor championships)”.
That meet is scheduled for mid -June and Baird, l among other plans hopes to defend her 400m title, to kick start her goals there .
Following a third place finish at her maiden Junior Carifta Games this year in April, Baird said she is not too disappointed with the performance, explaining that it was her first outdoor race for the year and she was far from her peak form.
The former Royal Youth Movement club member clocked 54.28 seconds, which was way off her personal best, but stated that it was a great experience representing her country for the first time at the Caribbean’s premier junior meet.
She said she hopes to encounter Bahamian Shanee Miller who won the Carifta gold sometime this summer to rekindle their rivalry.
Baird had beaten Miller at the World Juniors in Spain where the Bahamian finished out of the medals list. Baird, one year younger than Miller will be 18 years this year and her coach Shaun Dietz is even more bullish on his charge’s prospects this year.
He said Kadecia is doing even better now than she was at the same time last year and feels that by July when she should peak, the Guyanese should be the world’s best junior girls in the event.
Dietz pointed out that managing an athlete’s workload is the key to their success every season, and that is the key to Baird’s success so far.
He said it is important that a competitor is not burnt out with too much competition in one season and is keeping his fingers crossed that Kadecia will not suffer in that regard when she leaves the High School ranks and moves on to college next year.
Baird ran a stirring second leg at the Icahn Stadium in yesterday’s meet, bringing back Medgar Evers Preparatory College from sixth to third place, but despite a follow up good third leg by fellow Guyanese Brenessa Thompson, the team flagged in the final leg and ended fourth.
Baird’s team clocked 3 minutes 48.12 seconds in the event won by Vere Tech High School of Jamaica in 3.42.46 while another Jamaican school St Jago was second.
Thompson, daughter of former Guyana sprinter Brennon Thompson, is a 100m specialist and has a personal best of 12.1 seconds. Having never represented Guyana, she said she is unsure of her plans for her country in the future.
The meet staged in cold windy conditions, was heighted by Olympic and world record holder David Rudisha, winning the 800m easily while American star Tyson Gay, returned to form by recording a big win in the men’s 100.
Jeremy Bascom, who represented Guyana at last year’s Olympic Games, finished seventh in the heats and did not qualify for the 100m final.
