Kirani James leads home the field in the U20 400 final - 2009 CARIFTA Games (© Jed Charles)
Four records fell and another was equalled – by two athletes, no less – on the second day of competition at the George Odlum Stadium, as the XXXVIII CARIFTA Games continued in St Lucia.
Some big performances were expected from the likes of Gavyn Nero, Kirani James, Shericka Jackson, Raymond Higgs, Pate Gaye Reid and Akela Jones. And they did not disappoint.
Jamaica continued to lead the medal table, but the medal table kept growing, with the Commonwealth of Dominica, US Virgin Islands, Antigua-Barbuda, the Turks & Caicos Islands and Cayman Islands all earning their first medals.
Nero puts on a show in men’s 1500m
There was still less than a second separating them. Trinidad & Tobago’s Gavyn Nero and Jamaica’s Kemoy Campbell came to St Lucia to put on a show, and that they did in the men’s 1500m. St Lucia’s Kevin Edward set a heady pace, daring the field to run with him. Campbell accepted the challenge, and led for much of the race. Nero sat back in fifth, picking up with each lap, until he produced a fantastic finishing kick to cross in 3:47.56 to Campbell’s 3:48.18, well inside the 23-year-old record of 3:51.05 by Jamaica’s Anthony Christy.
“I’m excited; I knew I might have to run the record to win,” said Nero, “but I did not want to set the pace, so I was glad Kevin went out early and made Kemoy work.”
James also produces the goods
Most impressive was the commanding performance of young Kirani James. Running against athletes two years his senior, Grenada’s 2009 World Youth Championship prospect delivered the goods in a big way, running 45.45 seconds for first and breaking Usain Bolt’s six-year-old CARIFTA record of 46.35 in the process.
The 16-year-old (Born 1 Sep 1992) James, who says he is unsure of whether he will run the 200, confirmed his coach’s opinion that he can go under 45 this year. “I have not really trained for 400 yet this season,” he said. “I’m really hoping to dominate at the World Youths.”
James was followed home by compatriot Rondell Bartolomew (45.58) and surprise package Leslie Murray, whose 46.74 earned bronze for the US Virgin Islands.
Joining Kirani for the 6th IAAF World Youth Championships (WYC) take place in Bressanone, Sudtirol, Italy later this year (8 to 12 July 2009) will be Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson. Jackson broke fellow countrywoman Claudine Williams’ 1992 quarter-mile record of 53.50 for the under-17 division. Shericka, a replacement athlete on Jamaica’s team, ran 53.48 to edge Rashan Brown (53.93) of Bahamas and Marissa Gale (55.28) of Trinidad & Tobago.
Yet another WYC qualifier, Jamaica’s Jermaine Fyffe ran 47.96 to win the under-17 division, with Barbados’ Shaquille Alleyne and Jamaica’s Jovan Williams sharing the podium. And there was a third Jamaican win in the 400 series, Jodiann Muir taking gold in 53.49 over Jamaican Danielle Dowie and Trinidad & Tobago’s Alena Brooks.
High Jump records for Higgs, Jones, Reid
Now based in the United States, Raymond Higgs cleared a CARIFTA-record 2.13m to win the under-17 High Jump for Bahamas two years ago. In St Lucia on Saturday, in the last event of the day, he needed only 2.12m to win. Then he went after the division record of 2.20m set by fellow Bahamian Jamaal Wilson in those same 2007 Games in Turks & Caicos. Higgs cleared 2.21m on his second trial, a tremendous feat for the young man, who has another year in the junior ranks.
Kareem Edwards of Antigua-Barbuda cleared 2.06m and Daniel Burke of Barbaods 2.03m for second and third. In fourth, last year’s under-17 silver medallist, Wendrico Seymour of Turks & Caicos, went over at 2.00m to qualify for WYC.
More athletes made the standard for Italy in the under-17 High Jump. Janieve Russell, the divisional Long Jump champion, went over at 1.77m in one of the most keenly anticipated events of these Games. But her best effort was only good for third.
The battle went down, as expected, to the top two medallists from last year, Akela Jones from Barbados and defending champion Petergaye Reid of Jamaica. Both went over at 1.80m, tying the 1999 CARIFTA record originally set by Sheree Francis of Jamaica. But neither athlete was able to clear 1.82m, and with Reid having required two trials at the winning height, as opposed to Jones, who needed three, the gold medal went to the defending champion.
Short sprints go to form
The 100m series produced no surprises. Jamaica’s Carrie Russell ran away with the women’s under-20 race. The IAAF World Junior championships bronze medallist and defending CARIFTA champion led a Jamaica 1-2 in the century, with Jura Levy in second, and Allison Peters taking bronze for the US Virgin Islands.
Shekeim Greaves, hailed as Barbados finest schoolboy sprinter since Obadele Thompson, overcame a poor start in the men’s race to clock 10.23 seconds in beating Warren Fraser of the Bahamas and Kemar Bailes-Cole of Jamaica. Afterwards, Greaves said that he would be looking forward to meeting Jamaica’s World Junior Champion, Dexter Lee, at Pan Am Juniors in late July.
Jahazeel Murphy came into this meet with a lot of hype, but the 14-year-old Jamaican justified his pre-meet press, blowing past Jonathan Farquharson of Bahamas (10.59 seconds) and Johnathan Holder of Trinidad & Tobago (10.62) to stop the clock in 10.41 seconds and confirm his status as the next heir apparent to Bolt’s recent CARIFTA legacy. The girls’ race ended again in a Jamaican 1-2, this time for Deandre Whitehorne (11.38) and Shericka Moulton (11.69), the latter beating the impressive Chantelle Morrison of the Cayman Islands by a few thousandths of a second, as Morrison was also given 11.69 for third.
Pentathlon well poised
With two events to go, there are just nine points separating the top two athletes in the women’s open Pentathlon. Audilia da Veiga, just 17 years old and a silver medallist last year, threw down an opening marker with a breezy run of 14.69 to earn 898 points from the 100m Hurdles. But St Lucia’s Makeba Alcide responded with a career-best of 11.73m to take 828 points from the Shot Put. Then both athletes, the class of the field, cleared 1.63m to lead the High Jump. Alcide, on 2242, leads from Da Veiga (2233) with Guadeloupe’s Maily Nicar 2094) currently third. Long Jump is Da Veiga’s pet event, but it looks as though when all is said and done that a lot will rest on the final of these five events, the 800m run.
The women’s under-20 Long Jump was an enthralling contest. There were big opening jumps from Karen Rebus of Guadeloupe, Sandisha Antoine of St Lucia, V’Alonee Robinson of the Bahamas and defending champion Daniella Sacama-Isidore of Martinique. Sacama-Isidore was head and shoulders above the rest, though, as she leapt to 6.21m, and was never threatened.
Last year’s under-17 champion, Rebus flew 6.07m on her next to last trial to take silver, having lain in third to that point. And Yushani Durrant of Jamaica rose up on her final trial to clear 5.99m, equalling Robinson’s initial mark, but earning the Jamaican the bronze on the basis of a better second-best mark.
Andre Bazil confirmed his coach’s assessment that he would be the man to beat in under-20 Javelin Throw. Bazil launched the spear 61.72m on his penultimate trial, beating teammate Davis Hypolite (59.06m) and Johan Carbety (58.60m) of Martinique.
Fifth last year, Raquel Williams won the girls’ under-17 Shot Put for Bahamas, her opening throw of 11.80m enough to win the competition, although she improved to 11.93m in the penultimate round. Sasha Gaye Marston of Jamaica (11.75m) was second and Martinique’s Catherine Mastail (11.09m) third. In boys’ under-17 Discus Throw, Ashinia Miller threw 49.21m to win for Jamaica. Lyndon Toussaint’s 45.27m was good for Grenada’s second silver. Trinidad & Tobago’s Kyle Preudhomme threw 40.65m for third.
Terry Finisterre for the IAAF
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