Guyana continues to be a constant face on the podium at the CARIFTA Track and Field Championships being staged in The Cayman Islands.
The afternoon session of day two saw Chantoba Bright, Joanna Archer, Adriel Austin roping in more medals to push Guyana’s tally to three gold, two silver and two bronze.
The evergreen Bright was unable to complete the double in the Long and Triple Jump after she was pipped to gold by Jamaica’s Lotavia Browne whose best was 13.09m ahead of Bright’s 12.63m. Suriname’s Monifah Doje got third with her leap of 12.41m.
Bright had won Gold in the U-20 Long Jump the previous day ahead of the Jamaican.
Archer, who got fifth in the U-20 1500m, could have copped gold in the 800m had she attacked earlier on the final backstretch in a blistering attempt to reel Jasmin Knowles of The Bahamas.
Knowles did the unconventional and went out powering from the start, opening a considerable distance with the pack. It was until the last 80 meters, that anyone made a move.
Archer showed her pedigree to give the Bahamian a scare but it was much too late, with the Bahamian stopping the clock at 2:09.14. Archer clocked 2:10.17 for silver and Abigail Schaafe of Jamaica got third with a time of 2:12.73.
Just below in the U-17 800m, 15-year-old Adriel Austin ran a bold race against a tactical Jamaican duo of Jodyann Mitchell and Kishay Rowe who took Gold and Silver, respectively.
Mitchell clocked 2:11.92 and Rowe 2:11.97 while Austin battled to 2:12.69 for bronze. Teammate Shaquka Tyrell got fourth with 2:15.86.
In the Boy’s U-20 800m, Daniel Melville got fifth in 1:54.25. Jamaicans Kimar Farquharson (1:49.64) and Tyrice Taylor (1:49.73) took the top two spots.
The U-20 200m brought some disappointment for the Guyanese. Running out of lane one, Deshana Skeete had a tall order in racing the fastest female junior in the world, Brianna Williams.
Williams clocked 22.89 for gold which is also the 3rd best 200m time in the world so far this year. Silver went to Jamaica’s Joanne Reid 23.69 while Bronze was copped by British Virgin Islands Beyonce Defreitas in 23.79. Skeete finished eight with a time of 24.69.
The boys 200m was a similar script for the Guyanese, losing out on podium spots. Daniel Williams, who by his standards is having a lean outing, got fifth with a time of 21.19, his new season best.
Fellow countryman Loneil Marks was behind with a time 21.50. As expected the Jamaicans dominated via Xavier Nairne (20.65) and Antonio Wallace (20.83).
Melon Lowenfield leap of 1.85m earned him fifth in the U-17 High jump which was won by Curacao’s Mathew Sophia who was the lone boy to reach the two-meter mark with a recorded height of 2.00m.
More so, Tremaine Browne finished sixth in the U-20 long jump, having a best leap of 7.09m. The winner was Jamaica’s Wayne Pinnock with a giant leap of 7.84m.
The Championships come to a close on Monday.
Read More about Day 1: http://newsroom.gy/2019/04/21/golden-start-for-guyana-at-carifta-
