This year’s CARIFTA Track and Field Selection Championships will be held at three venues.
From 4:30 p.m. today, the sprint hurdlers will be in action on the warm-up track at the National Stadium, while the throws and jumps will be held tomorrow at Harrison College.
The full slate of running events from 100 to 5 000 metres, including the intermediate hurdles, will be held at Combermere School, starting at 2 p.m. tomorrow and continuing at the same time Sunday.
As structural work continues at the National Stadium to relay the new Mondo surface, the Athletics Association of Barbados has had to find different venues to stage the meets.
The unofficial count shows that 14 athletes, including three who are overseas based, have met or are very close to the established standards.
Rivaldo Leacock (54.38) and Kion Joseph (51.82) have booked their place in the Under-17 and Under-20 Boys’ 400m hurdles, respectively, while Tristan Evelyn made her mark with 13.89 seconds in the Under-17 Girls’ 100 metres hurdles, the first girl to record a sub-14 on debut in that age group.
Sprinters Mario Burke (10.80, 100m); Levi Cadogan with a personal best 21.21 in the 200m were within the standard, while Ramarco Thompson (49.02), Ariel Jackson (55.21) and Shavonne Husbands with an indoor time of 23.97 seconds in the 200 metres, were just marginally off.
In the field events, Akela Jones is the only jumper to date with 6.26 metres in the Under-20 Girls’ long jump, although Shamar Rock had a very encouraging personal best leap of 7.19 metres last weekend in Trinidad.
Tristan Whitehall has qualified for both the Under-20 Boys’ shot put and discus with 16.41m and 53.08m, respectively. Janeil Craigg hit 59.08m in the Under-20 Boys’ javelin and Ashley Williams’ 12.85m in the Under-20 Girls’ shot put, has also qualified.
Jerrad Mason’s 1 minute 53.97 seconds last weekend in Trinidad added his name to the list in the 800 metres, while Sonia Gaskin, who is at Kansas State University, was one of the first to qualify with an indoor time of 2:07.92 in the girls’ race.
For several other athletes who went to Trinidad and Tobago last weekend and showed great promise, as well as others who have been in training here in Barbados, this will be the final chance to impress the selectors, as the team for the March 29 to April 1 meet in The Bahamas will be confirmed on March 11. (SAT)
