Jamaicans rule CARIFTA but Beckles takes top award

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC - Jamaica’s junior athletes produced another colossal display and strode to an unchallenged 24th consecutive medal-topping performance as the 2008 CARIFTA Games ended Monday night.

But it was the outstanding Barbadian hurdler Kierre Beckles who grabbed the Austin Sealy Award as top performer.

Propelled by championship records from distance runners Natoya Goule and Kemoy Campbell, the Jamaicans won 11 of the 22 gold medals during the last session of the three-day meet at the Jubilee Stadium.

Jamaica piled up 69 medals, comprising 29 gold, 25 silver and 15 bronze to overwhelm the opposition again.

Trinidad and Tobago placed second with 30 medals -- 10 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze, and the Bahamas collected eight gold, three silver, and 12 bronze to finish third with 23 medals.

Barbados placed next on the medal grid in fourth place with 26 medals, seven gold, 10 silver and nine bronze, followed by Martinique with 14 medals (5-3-6), and Grenada with eight (3-2-3).

Jamaica’s traditional sprint hurdles dominance was significantly shaken and they secured only one of the four titles on offer.

There were many years when the Jamaicans won now fewer than three - some times all four -- sprint hurdles, but Keiron Stewart gave them their only sprint hurdles gold medal of the 2008 meet by capturing the U20 Boys 110-metre hurdles.

Stewart, a silver medallist last year, stepped up to the top spot when he clocked 13.50 seconds to win ahead of his teammate Warren Weir (14.13).

Barbadians Kenrisha Brathwaite and Kierre Beckles and the Bahamian Aaron Wilmore surged to gold in the other sprint hurdles events.

Wilmore erased Jamaican Romaine Gordon’s 2003 mark of 13.12 as he sped to a championship record 12.88 seconds to land the U17 Boys 100-hurdles.

Wilmore won ahead of Barbadian Tyrell Forde (13.13) and Jamaican D’Omar Boyden (13.49).

In the girls’ equivalent, Brathwaite (14.04) beat Jamaican Samantha Elliott (14.17) for the gold medal, while Beckles outgunned Jamaican Rosemary Carty (13.63) in the U20 Girls’ event in a new record 13.43 seconds.

Racing with her left knee bandaged, Beckles used impressive speed and technique and obliterated the previous CARIFTA mark of 13.51 by Jamaican Shermaine Williams set last year.

“I am very proud of my performance,” Beckles said after her fine win.

Her mark was also a new Barbados junior national record and with the weight of her effort on a world junior scale probably the most outstanding at the three-day meet, she took the Austin Sealy prize given to the athlete with the top performance of the Easter weekend.

Goule, who had won the 1,500-metre gold on Friday, smashed the Under-20 Girls’ 800-metre record with a superb run in two minutes 05.90 seconds.

She easily outgunned Trinidad and Tobago’s Afiya Walker (2:10.20) and Jessica James (2:11.07).

Goule’s effort lowered the 10-year-old mark of 2:06.83 by T&T’s Melissa de Leon as she brilliantly completed a CARIFTA Games 800/1500 double for the fourth year in a row.

Goule had done the U17 middle-distance double in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Gavyn Nero repeated as Under-20 Boys’ 800-metre champion with a win in one minute 51.94 seconds and prevented a Jamaican sweep of all the 800-metre races.

Nero defeated Jamaican Theon O’Connor - to add to his 1500-metre win on Friday -- as the pair repeated their placings of a year ago in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

O’Connor, a two-time CARIFTA U17 two-lap champion, clocked 1:52.49 for silver and Bermuda’s Aaron Evans (1:52.61) was third.

Among the lower age-group, Jamaicans Chantal Duncan (2:13.46) and Ristananna Tracey (2:13.77) got first and second respectively in the girls’ 800 and Jamaican Javere Bell clocked 1:56.12 to land the U17 Boys’ event.

Campbell delivered one of the most massive wins here this weekend when he lapped the entire field and won the Open Boys’ 5,000 metres in a new record time.

A 3,000-metre U17 champion last year, Campbell took control early and won the arduous twelve-and-a-half lap run in 14:46.51, shattering a 27-year-old mark by Grenada’s Maurice Williams of 14:58.23.

Campbell’s run was only the third sub 15-minute run in the 28-year history of the event and silver medallist Christian Rock of Barbados, and bronze medallist Kendis Bullard were more than a minute behind.

Jamaica closed the meet with their usual flourish, sweeping of all the 1600-metre relay events.

They were unchallenged in the Under-17 categories and logged solid wins as well in the senior division to close out the meet in familiar style -- with four consecutive victories on the track.

The team of Keiron Stewart, Ramone McKenzie, Nickel Ashmeade, and Andre Peart strode to Jamaica’s eighth consecutive win in the U20 Boys’ 4X400 relay.

They stopped the clock at 3:09.71 to defeat Trinidad and Tobago (3:11.34) and the Bahamas (3:12.09).

Jamaica’s U20 Girls’ team, unbeaten in this event since 1985, won their race - with Kayon Robinson, Shana-Gaye Tracey, Nikita Tracey and Alecia Cutenar - in 3:39.12, all alone at the finish as T&T picked up silver in 3:43.65.

Earlier in the U17 races, Petra Fanty, Shericka Jackson, Danielle Dowie and Sandrae Farquharson propelled Jamaica’s girls to a stylish win in 3:39.62, beating St Kitts and Nevis (3:49.13), and the boys delivered 4X400 relay gold as well soon after in 3:19.26.

Nolan Williams, Rolando Reid, A-Shawni Mitchell and Javere Bell combined for the Jamaican win by about 25 metres over T&T (3:21.20).

Nickel Ashmeade scored a superb win over IAAF World Youth (Under-18) champion Ramone McKenzie in a Jamaica one-two finish in the Under-20 Boys’ 200 metres but the Reggae powerhouse would score no more wins in the half-lap finals.

Bahamian Nivea Smith took the U20 Girls’ 200 in 23.01 seconds, edging local favourite Meritza Williams (23.11) of St Kitts and Nevis, with Jamaican Jura Levy (23.28) third.

Grenada’s Kirani James and the US Virgin Islands’ Alison Peter swept the U17 200-metre gold medals.

James, the 2007 World Youth 400-metre silver medallist and 400-metre champion here on Friday, won his race in 21.38 over T&T’s Moriba Morain (21.74) and Peter (23.99) pushed T&T’s Kai Selvon (24.14) into second spot in the 200 U17 Girls’ race.

In the field events on the final evening, Laure Mongin advertised Martinique’s strength in the girls’ throwing events when she won the U17 javelin at 37.65 metres ahead of Barbadian Kyshona Knight (36.63m).

T&T’s Robert Collingwood took the U20 Boys’ shot put at 16.23 metres ahead of Grenada’s Shakir Simons (15.93m), Jamaican Rajae Gayle (48.54m) won the U17 Boys’ discus over Dominica’s shot put gold medallist Dillon Simon (47.00m).

The Turks and Caicos Islands registered a rare win when Wendrico Seymour landed the U17 Boys’ long jump at 6.86 metres, defeating Winsley Tweeboom (6.67m) of the Netherlands Antilles.

The U20 Boys’ triple jump went to T&T’s Kyron Blaise (15.76m) over Jamaican Tarik Batchelor (15.49m).

In the morning session, Shaneika Thomas and Terri Ann Grant had picked up field events gold medals for the Jamaicans while the versatile Barbadian Deandra Dottin secured a fine win in the Under-20 Girls’ javelin.

Thomas secured her gold medal in the Under-17 Girls’ triple jump when she used the second of her six efforts of 11.83 metres to top her rivals.

Bahamian Tamara Myers was second at 11.55 metres and Jamaican Rochelle Farquharson (11.53m) was third.

Grant cleared 1.65 metres to win the Under-20 Girls’ high jump ahead of Guadeloupe’s Maeva Caracasse and Anguilla’s Shinelle Proctor.

Dottin, in her first year in the Under-20 category, dominated her javelin event to win at 47.00 metres.

A key member of the Barbados national women’s cricket team, Dottin - a triple gold medallist last year - outgunned Martinique’s Kevine Egarnes (42.12m) and Collene Felix (41.33m) for the gold medal.

Dottin had won the U17 javelin, shot put, and discus titles in the Turks & Caicos Islands last year.

The 2008 CARIFTA Games will be staged in St Lucia.