THE?CLOCK?is ticking loudly in the ears of athletes hoping to qualify for the 2012 CARIFTA Games in Hamilton, Bermuda, from April 7 to 9.
After a two-week break to rest and fine-tune weaknesses, they will be laying it all on the line from 6 p.m. today, when the CARIFTA Trials get under way at the National Stadium.
Three athletes from St Lucia and 12 from Tobago will also be competing.
To date, 11 local athletes – six of them in the field – have met the qualifying standards.
In the field, they are jumpers Akela Jones and Charles Greaves; throwers Leah Bannister (discus), Tristan Whitehall (shot put) and Nicoliai Bovelle and Janeil Craigg (javelin), all in the Under-20 division.
On the track, the qualifiers are Shakera Hall in the Under-20 Girls’ 100-metre hurdles; Kion Joseph and Tramaine Maloney in the Under-20 Boys’ 400-metre hurdles and first-timer Mario Burke in the Under-17 Boys’ 100 metres.
Anthonio Mascoll, the reigning Under-20 Boys’ 800 metres champion, opened the outdoor season with a time of one minute, 51 seconds flat to tell the selectors not to forget him. Whether he will be released by his United States’ school South Plains remains to be seen.
Sprinter Joshua Walcott, formerly of Ellerslie Secondary, is reported to be coming in from Jamaica where he is attending St Elizabeth Technical High School and sprinter/hurdler Lisa-Ann Barrow, who is based in North America, is already on the island.
Both were on the team last year.
The Under-17s, especially, need to step up. Arguably one of the most competitive divisions this season, they have struggled to reach the qualifying standards set by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA).
Tonight’s events include preliminaries for the 300-metre hurdles and 400-metre hurdles, the Under-15 Girls’ and Boys’ 100 metres and the 400 metres for Under-17s and Under-20s.
Tomorrow will see the start of the pentathlon and heptathlon; the finals of the sprint hurdles, 1 500 metres, 100 metres and 400 metres.
The multi-events will conclude on Sunday as well as the 200 metres, 800 metres, intermediate hurdles, 3 000 and 5 000. Field events will be held on both days.
The next opportunity to qualify will be at Inter-School Sports next week. (SAT)
