For the second year in a row, Saint Lucia finished the CARIFTA Games with four medals. The regional junior athletics festival concluded Monday night, April 6, at the Kirani James Stadium in St George’s, Grenada, with Saint Lucia 10th on the medals table.
The meet began with Destinee Cenac winning gold in the Under-17 girls’ high jump, clearing a personal best of 1.72m to improve on her 2025 bronze. A student at St Joseph’s Convent and a member of the Morne Stars Athletics Club, Cenac led a strong effort from the field event athletes, who won all four medals.
It was also Saint Lucia’s 16th high jump medal, the most the island’s athletes have won in an individual discipline, led by Games record holders and Olympians Levern Spencer and Jeannelle Scheper.
Saint Lucia also have 13 pole vault medals. Naya Jules claimed four of those, taking silver with a height of 2.95m in her event. It is her second consecutive silver after winning gold in the Open girls’ event in 2023 and 2024. Jules also threw a personal best of 41.59m for fifth in the Under-20 girls’ javelin throw.
On the opening night, Denzel Phillips earned his third all-time medal at the Games with bronze in the Under-20 boys’ discus throw. Throwing 53.24m, Phillips was behind Jamaica’s Kamari Kennedy and Joseph Salmon. He was in medal position for much of the shot put but finished fifth.
The last medal was awarded on Easter Monday, the final day. After a narrow fourth in the high jump hours earlier, Randall Monroe competed in the Under-17 boys’ long jump, battling a stiff headwind to record 6.60m for bronze. Monroe was on debut and will be eligible for the Under-17 division again next year.
The 12-member team also included 15-year-old thrower Eavan Edgar, who placed 11th in the shot put and fouled out in the discus throw. He should return next year. So should long jumpers Barbara-Marie Maximin and Syesha Rogers, who placed ninth in the Under-17 and Under-20 events, respectively. Maximin will be Under-20 in 2026.
All the Under-20 boys will age out next year. Evann John made the 800m final, running 1:53.44 for fifth, a much-improved performance from 2025. In the 400m, Joaqwan Alexander ran faster than last year but again missed the final. Benique Mann was 13th in the 1500m, Ryan Simeon 24th in the 100m, and Darvin Forde 11th in the triple jump in his first and only Games appearance.
