After three gold medals on day one of the Carifta Games currently being staged in Grenada at the Kirani James Stadium, team Guyana added another gold medal and a bronze yesterday by the end of day two of the three-day championship.
In the afternoon session, the Guyanese quartet of Malachi Austin, Narissa McPherson, Dhanielson Gill, and anchor Tianna Springer blazed their way to a record 3 minutes, 23.51s gold medal effort. They left the home crowd disappointed, as their team had to settle for silver in 3 minutes, 29.19 seconds, while Jamaica’s quartet took bronze in 3 minutes, 30.42 seconds.
Earlier in the same afternoon session, Attoya Harvey dug deep for a bronze medal finish in the Girls 3000m Open event.
Jamaica’s Kaydeen Johnson was dominant in the victory, crossing unchallenged in 10 minutes and 04.44 seconds to take home gold. Meanwhile, Johnson’s countrywoman, Ashara Frater, finished second in 10 minutes, 24.83 seconds, while Harvey had to settle for her bronze in 10 minutes, 36.59 seconds.
Jamaica-based Guyanese Charissa December was well below her best in the Girls U-20 400m Hurdles, finishing 7th. Michelle Smith (56.28s), Kellyann Carr (57.02s), and Aaliyah Mullings (59.80s) all occupied the top three spots in that order, while December finished in 1 minute, 04.56s.
Fourteen-year-old Nathaniel Samaroo also gave the boys U-17 shot put a good effort but could only finish 8th as Jamaica’s Javontae Smith set a new record in the event with a throw of 18.80m. Taking silver and bronze were Jayden Walcott (Barbados) and Jaylen Stuart (Bahamas), who had throws of 15.37m and 15.28 m, respectively. Samaroo had a best throw of 12.35m.
That third and final day gets underway today at the Kirani James Stadium, with Team Guyana looking to challenge for more hardware.
