President of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson is optimistic that the athletes selected to represent Guyana at the CARIFTA Games will return with hardware.
“I think this is a strong squad that will give a good account of themselves and we think most if not all of them have a fair chance at medaling,” said Hutson.
The sum of 18 athletes were named to represent the Golden Arrowhead at the 47th CARIFTA Games scheduled for Easter weekend in the Bahamas.
10 athletes qualified locally using the AAG’s standard while three are USA based. The remaining (Kenisha Phillips, Joanna Archer, Kissanna Glen, Kezra Murray and Cordell Charles) narrowly missed the qualifying standard but according to Hutson “have great potential and with time we feel they can bring their times down.”
The AAG head disclosed that a high qualifying time was set by the association for the athletes to reach during the many trial runs which culminated over the weekend at the National Track and Field Centre.
“We set our times based on what was the bronze medal winning trend over the last few years at CARIFTA, so these athletes are within the boundaries at least to medal but we do not know what kind of competition they will be facing this year” Hutson reasoned.
Team composition is:
Upper Demerara Schools
Chantoba Bright (Long Jump Girls U 20)
Daniel Williams (200m and 400m Boys U 20)
Christianburg Wismar Secondary School
Jermaine Simmons (Shot Put U 20)
Tremayne Brown (Long Jump U 20)
Deshanna Skeete (200m and 400m Girls U 17)
Shaquka Tyrell (1500m Girls U 17)
Murphy Nash (3000m Boys Open)
United States of America based
Onasha Rogers (100m and 200m Girls U 20)
Avon Samuels (200m and 400m Girls U 20)
Claudrice McKoy (1500m U20 and 3000m Open)
Running Brave Athletic Club
Kenisha Phillips (100m and 200m Girls U 20)
Princess Brown (Triple Jump Girls U 17)
Police
Joanna Archer (800m and 1500m Girls U 20)
Kezra Murray (800m U 20)
Torique Boyce (High Jump Boys U 20)
Anthony Williams (Long and Triple Jump Boys U 20)
Super Up-coming Runners
Cordell Charles (1500m U 17 and 3000m Open)
De Challengers
Kissanna Glen (800m and 1500m U 17)
Mayfield Taylor-Trim was named as Team Manager. According to Hutson, the coaches will be named at a later date.
The Bahamas is set to host the 2018 CARIFTA Games from March 30 to April 2 at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
This year’s CARIFTA Games will see The Bahamas hosting 26 countries and 500 athletes, and will consist of 400 volunteers and about 150 Bahamian and international officials.
It is the premier track and field junior competition in the region.
