Last year’s CARIFTA Games bronze medalist, Princess Browne and new sprint sensation, Osrick Pellew may have punched early tickets to the CARIFTA Games during the Easter weekend in the Cayman Islands.
During the third Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) Development meet at the National Track and Field Centre on Saturday which doubled as a CARIFTA Games qualifier, Browne hopped, stepped, jumped and disturbed the sand in 12.02m to win the Girls’ Under-17 Triple Jump event.
The Running Brave Athletic Club standout surpassed the qualifying standard of 11.60m.
Pellew matched the qualifying time of 11.00 to win the boys’ Under-17 100m final after clocking 10.98s in the heat.
While Browne and Pellew made hay in the sunshine, Kenisha Phillips and Keliza Smith came close to booking their tickets. Smith missed the Girls’ Under-15 long Jump qualifying standard by five centimeters after jumping 5.45m.
Smith also came close to qualifying in the 400m when she took her talents to the track. But her time of 57.70 seconds in the Under-17 quarter mile race was seven tenths of a second slower than the qualifying time of 57 seconds.
Running against the clock, Philips narrowly missed the time in the Girls’ Under-20 100m and 200m sprints. In the 100m, she ran 11.89 with the time being 11.80s, while the CARIFTA qualifying time in the half lap event was 24.20. Phillips finished in 24.67s for the win.
Meanwhile, the seniors who were competing to qualify for international meets such as the Pan American Seniors, had some commendable performances.
National javelin record holder, Leslain Baird, who had targeted of 70m, came close
with a throw of 69.81m.
In the blue riband 100m races, Akeem Stewart won the men’s segment in 10.71 seconds while Alita Moore ruled the women’s category after crossing the line in 12.19seconds.
In the 200m fixture, Elton Bollers clocked 21.79s which was good enough to win men’s final while Tonya Rawlings took the top honors for the females in 25.94s for the half lap event.
The athletes will have another chance to improve their performances on February 24 when the next Track and Field event is staged at the same venue.
