Javelin
Kymoi Noray of Signal Hill Secondary School earned one of two morning medals for Trinidad and Tobago. Noray placed 2nd in the javelin for girls under 18. In gusty windy conditions, she made a first throw of 42.55m followed by three foul throws. Her fifth throw flew a distance of 44.98m, just 31cm behind the winner of Bahamas.
In the afternoon session, Akidah Briggs of Toco Secondary School and Asha James of Signal Hill Secondary School took the field to compete in the girls under 20 event. Again the wind made throwing very difficult, but Asha James claimed the third spot with a throw of 43.24m. Briggs had to settle for 5th place with her throw of 42.27m.

Long jump
Tyra Gittens returned to the pit in the long jump for girls under 20. Gittens had already earned top spot in the girls heptathlon. She was now going after her second gold medal. She had a jump of 6.10m on her fourth try, where she held 1st position for a short while, but the Jamaican jumper responded immediately with a jump of 6.22m which turned out to be the winning mark. Tyra earned a silver medal.

Discus
Randolph Isaac of Tunapuna Secondary School returned to action today, this time in the discus throw for boys under 18. His mark of 46.34m placed him 7th. The winner of Jamaica threw 61.25m.

200m
Trinidad and Tobago was poised to do well with two athletes in each of the 200m races.
In the Girls under 18 200m, Akilah Lewis of Bishops Anstey and Ayla Stanisclaus of Scarborough Secondary finished 7th and 8th respectively, in times of 24.79 and 26.26s. In the Boys under 18 Avindale Smith of QRC and Adell Colthrust of Debe High finished 5th and 7th respectively, in times of 21.76 and 22.36. Both athletes were clearly in distress after the race.
Khalifa St Fort and Shikyla Walcott lined up for the Girls under 20 200m. Khalifa was going after her second gold medal, her first being in the 100m. At the end of the event Khalifa St Fort earned the gold, finishing just in front of Grenadian Hazard and Jamaican Cameron. Khalifa finished in a time of 23.99s.  Her compatriot Walcott finished 6th in a time of 24.88s.
The Boys under 20 was the last of the 200m finals. And just like in the 100m finals, drama ruled the show. Jaden Purcell and Jerrod Elcock of Queens Royal College lined up for this one. The gun went and went again, signalling that something was wrong, a false start. When the “smoke cleared”, Jaden Purcell was ruled out of the finals guilty of leaving early. The race, then got off cleanly and was tight all the way to the wire, with four athletes running in under 22 seconds. Jerrod Elcock held his form to finish in 2nd place in 21.54s, just ahead of Compton of Guyana.

Shot Put
Isaiah Taylor of the University of Trinidad and Tobago and Konnel Jacob of Speyside Secondary School were the country’s representative in the shot put for boys under 20. The boys finished 3rd and 4th respectively with only one cm separating the pair. Taylor 3rd with 17.18m and Jacob 4th with 17.17m. 1st and 2nd were held by two Jamaicans with throws of 19.29m and 18.72m.

4x400m
Girls under 18
The quartet of Joanna Rogers, Caliyah Wallace, Patrice Richards and Rae-Anne Serville ran all the way to a 3rd place finish in a time of 3:43.05 behind Bahamas in 3:41.24 and Jamaican 3:38.73 - Bronze for Trinidad and Tobago.

Boys under 18
Again, Jamaica took pole position in 3:14.65 and Bahamas second in 3:17.22. The Trinidad and Tobago team of Tyshawn Grey, Kaylon Thompson, Kinddel Carrington and Akil Boisson held on strong to win the bronze medal in 3:20.85 in front of Grenada who finished in 3:22.97.

Two bronze medals for T&T, with one 4x400m to go.

Boys under 20
This was the curtain event of the games, the big moment, the big guys. The teams involved British Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Bahamas and Guyana, lanes 3 to 7 in that order, with Jamaica looking for a clean sweep of the relays. Team Trinidad and Tobago; Elijah Martin of  Chaguanas North Secondary, Joshua St Clair of Queens Royal College, Judah Taylor of Polythenic Sixth Form and Kashief King of Point Fortin East Secondary (formerly of Naparima College).

As the gun went off it was Jamaica with a narrow lead going into the first hand-over with T&T in close pursuit. A blunder at the hand over for the Jamaican opened the door for T&T to run through and run they did. St Clair ran like a man on a mission, he handed the baton over to Taylor who ran himself into the ground while maintaining or even increasing the lead over the Jamaicans. The task was then given to King to complete the takeover. But the teenage sensation Christopher Taylor of Jamaica had other ideas and went in pursuit of King, Trinidad and Tobago and glory. King with a lead of about 25m over Taylor ran a very smart race. With about 90m to go, Taylor, an amazing 400m runner and captain of the Jamaican Team caught up with King but King held his form and opened wide heading for the finish line. Taylor tried to go pass but with tiring legs from all the work he had to do in catching up, he stumbled with 20m to go and King was gone - Gold and glory for Trinidad and Tobago with Jamaica beaten into second place.

Trinidad and Tobago 1st 3:09.32, Jamaica 2nd 3:10.34 and Bahamas 3rd in 3:18.03.

At the of the race Jamaica and Bahamas lodged protests, Jamaica against Trinidad and Tobago and Bahamas against Jamaica. The protests were over ruled and Trinidad and Tobago stood as winners. But with so much time taken to make a decision, the triumphant T&T 4x400m boys under 20 team were denied the glory of a medal ceremony.

Final remarks from Curacao
2017 saw a more determined Trinidad and Tobago, 22 medals with 7 golds. Trinidad and Tobago finished in 2nd position overall behind Jamaica and in front of Bahamas. The games were generally pleasant and well organised. The weather was great except for the strong breeze which made the pole vault and javelin events difficult, though new records were set in both events.
The focus for most of these athletes now changes to representing their various schools at the National Secondary Schools’ Track and Field Championship on April 27th and 28th at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. Start time on the 27th 10am and on the 28th 11am.
Cheers to the athletes, coaches, administrators, medical staff, supporters, parents and media personnel from Trinidad and Tobago for a job well done. Cheers to Curacao and the Carifta Games organising committee - the administrators, officials, volunteers and the media support team for a great job. So, in Papiamentu I say, ayo and bon nochi.

Joseph Brewster
Reporting from Curacao
Trinidad and Tobago Secondary Schools’ Track and Field Association

Carifta 2017 Day 3 Round up

​​​by Joseph Brewster (TTSSTFA); 19.4.17

CURACAO - Trinidad and Tobago has 15 medals, we have gone past last year’s medal count. But how far will we go?  Here is the news coming out of Curacao.

Hurdles
The boys under 18 110m hurdles qualifier was run in the morning. Tyrese Rawlins of Chaguanas South Secondary got into the finals, qualifying in 8th position. In the finals Rawlins ran home in a time of 14.19s, bettering the time he ran in the morning, 14.44s, but that only earned him a 7th place finish.
Cheziah Phillip of Toco Secondary School was in action again this time in the 100m hurdles girl under 18. Phillip finished in an admirable 4th place in a time of 14.26s. The first place time set by Jamaican Brittany Anderson was 13.16s.

Secondary Schools' Track & Field