At least seven athletes made sure that their tickets could be booked for the 46th CARIFTA Games in Curacao in April when they competed at the National Youth and Junior Championships over the weekend at the National Track and Field Centre.
Usual suspects, Kenisha Phillips, Compton Caesar, Daniel Williams, Claudrice McKoy, Anfernee Headecker and Jermaine Brown were among those who equalled or bettered the AAG’s qualifying marks in their respective events.
With their heroics, the standout teen athletes probably punched their tickets to the Caribbean island to compete at the prestigious April 14-17 fixture in Willemstad.
Here are a few highlights:
Under-18 Girls 200m
Phillips recorded a sprint double in the 200m on Sunday after winning the 100m in 12.0s on Saturday but most importantly was the fashion in which she did it.
In her second appearance at the CARIFTA Trials, the 15-year old made running against more celebrated athletes look easy as she breezed past Deshana Skeete on the turn on her way to clocking an eye popping 24.83s.
While her 200m time was three hundredths of a second off the AAG’s qualifying mark (24.5s), her 100m time was bang on the mark that was stipulated (12.0s).
Under-20 Boys 200m
Caesar also recorded a sprint double after winning the 100m final on Saturday in 10.62s but unlike Phillips he was able to qualify for the CARIFTA Games in the half lap event.
Besides the clock and the gust swirling around the stadium, the Lindener had little opposition from the start of the pistol and powered through in 21.27s. His winning time was a shade faster than the AAG’s qualifying time set at 21.6s. Second place finisher, Tyrell Peters was just off the qualifying mark with a time of 21.68s.
Under-18 Boys/Girls Long Jump
Brown (6.87m) and double silver medalist at last year’s CARIFTA, Bright (5.77m) both leapt further than the stipulated mark in their jumps and could be donning national colours in a few weeks in the Dutch-speaking Island.
Under-18 sprinter, Daniel Williams recorded a time of 21.8s to go under the 21.9s qualifying standard in the 200m. Headecker blazed to victory in the boys U-20 800m and stopped the clock in 1m: 54.17s to better the 1m: 55.0s mark set by the Athletic Association of Guyana.
McKoy’s only competition came from the clock and she used her form and experience to go under the AAG’S U-18 1500m mark (4m: 55.05s) by almost seven seconds. She won the event in 4m: 48.79s.
The qualifiers and other athletes will get another opportunity to improve on their timings when the Smalta High Schools and Junior Championship is staged at the same venue on March 18 and 19. (Emmerson Campbell)
