It was a tough day at the office for several of Guyana’s athletes at the ongoing CARIFTA Track and Field Championships in St George’s, Grenada, as the medal count remained at five after Day 2.
However, the Kirani James Stadium did not go without some fireworks from the Guyanese contingent who have poised themselves for medals in several of Monday’s final events.
The day’s action for the Guyanese contingent began with Walton Alleyne in the Boys’ Under-20 Long Jump event. Alleyne’s best jump was recorded at 6.65m for a 13th place finish in the event. The Bahamas’s Carlin Archer took the gold with a 7.68m leap.
Over in the preliminaries for the 200m events, Guyana witnessed mixed results. Angel Jeffrey, operating in Section 2 of the qualifiers, clocked 25.37s for fifth place. That heat was won by Tyra Fenton of Antigua and Barbuda in 23.79s.
In Section 3 of the qualifiers, Teisanna Harris crossed the line in 25.06s for fourth place. Trinidad and Tobago’s Eden Chee-Wah took the top spot in that heat in 23.93s. Both Guyanese sprinters were unable to advance to the 200m U17 final.
In the boys’ version of that event, Jumeel Cornette clocked 23.38s in Section 1 for sixth place. The Bahamas’s Emmile Higgins crossed the line first in 21.92s. unfortunately, Malique Kendall had a false start in Heat 2, meaning that neither of the U17 sprinters would move on to the 200m final.
Moving up to the U20 division, Akeela Dover stopped the clock at 24.52s for fifth place in Heat 1. Jamaica’s Shanoya Douglas won that heat, clocking 23.46s.
In the male event, Tishawn Easton ran a blistering 20.54s for second place in Heat 1, almost rewriting Guyana’s junior record, if it were not for a +5.4 wind. Nonetheless, Easton booked his spot in today’s final, alongside first-place finisher in the heat, Jayden Green out of Barbados who stopped the clock at 20.49s.
On the other hand, Deuquan Farrell narrowly missed out on qualification, clocking 21.29s for third place in Section 3 of the preliminaries. Sanjay Seymour of Jamaica took the win and the only qualifying spot from that heat in 20.89s.
Earlier on Sunday, Guyana’s 4x100m U20 quartet of Gordon Thompson, Skylar Charles, Onesi Dunn and Deuquan Farrell clocked 40.91s in Section 1 of the preliminaries to move on to Sunday night’s final. Their meat was won by The Bahamas in 40.37s.
However, in the final, Guyana could only mirror their qualifying time of 40.91 for sixth place. Trinidad and Tobago took the gold in 39.64s, Jamaica second in 39.84s while hosts Grenada completed the podium in 40.18s.
The 800m preliminaries were arguably the highlight of the day for Guyana’s contingent, with two athletes in the hunt for medals today.
Olivia Solomon impressed by becoming the fastest qualifier in the Girls’ U17 800m, clocking 2:13.39 for first place in Section 1.
In the boys’ version of the event, Jermaine Shepherd clocked 2:01.24 for fourth place in Section 2 of the preliminaries. St Kitts and Nevis’ Najeeb Kelly won that heat in 2:00.72.
In Section 3, Bryson Anderson stopped the clock at 2.00.70 for third place and a spot in today’s final. Sint Maarten’s Nahjah Wyatte took the top spot in that heat with a time of 1:58.16.
In the U20 boys’ event, Kaidon Persaud crossed the line in 1:57.57s for eighth place in Section 1 of the 800m preliminaries. Trinidad’s Kiile Alexander Reid clocked 1:53.22 for first place in that heat.
However, Guyana will have a man in today’s 800m final after Javon Roberts put on a show in Section 2 of the preliminaries, timing his race to perfection, to surpass his opponents in the final 100m of the race. Roberts clocked 1:53.73 for first place, becoming the second fastest qualifier in the men’s event.
Today, Guyanese fans can look forward to competition in the 200m and 800m finals, alongside the U20 4x400m relay event.
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