media_artricles :: 2018

Seven meet World U-20 standards

Shaniqua Bascombe was one of seven athletes making the required standard to get a chance to compete at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Finland, next month.

The 14-year-old sprinter was splendid on the weekend at the National Gas Company (NGC) National Junior Championships hosted by the National Association of Athletics Administration at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo.

Bascombe completed the sprint double, winning the girls Under-17 100 metres in a time of 11.59 seconds, achieving the standard of 11.80 on Saturday and followed up with victory in the 200m in 24.05, again surpassing the qualifying mark of 24.20.

Bascombe is a member of the Cougars Athletic club, which was born nine years ago under the guidance of head coach Kelvin Nancoo and coach Abeola Akowe.

"Shaniqua continues to improve. She is far from being the finished product which will take another six-years," said Nancoo yesterday after his club's grand victory. "Clearly, she is something very special. She ran her personal best in the 100m when she produced an 11.59-clocking and she will run even faster before the season is over."

Similarly, Simplex's Timothy Frederick did the feat in the boys U-20 category, completing the sprint double and qualified for both sprint events. He won the 100m dash in 10.41 to meet the standard (10.55), as well as second-place finisher Kion Benjamin of Memphis Pioneers (10.52).

The next day, Frederick was the gold medallist in the half-lap final in 21.13 and this time he was joined by the other two medallists, Kaizen Panthers' Ako Hislop (silver) in 21.23 and Memphis' David Pierre (bronze) in 21.33 with each meeting the standard of 21.35.

Iantha Wright of Mercury did the same in the girls U-20 category, capturing a gold medal speeding across the line also in 24.05 (Standard 24.20) in the 200m .

Onal Mitchell of Point Fortin New Jets (PFNJ) was the other athlete achieving World event mark (47.70) in winning the boys U-20 400m in 47.41.

Bascombe was also among a number of athletes who copped multiple medals at the annual meet, which her club won with a combined score of 475 points from 95 events. Second was Memphis with 370 and Kaizen in third with 337.

Bascombe also won a gold in the girls U-17 100m hurdles (15.19) and silver medals in the 4x100m (47.76) and 4x400m (4:08.09) relays.

"She was good in the 100m hurdles which gave her the second gold medal before she ran away in the 200m event in 24.05 which makes her eligible for the Youth Olympics. She ran a superb second leg in the U-17 girls (4x100) relay but we were narrowly beaten by Simplex (47.61)," said Nancoo, who had another of his athletes cop the most medals at the meet, Kareesa Kirton.

She nabbed six medals, five gold in the girls U-15 100m, 60m hurdles, 300m hurdles, 4x100m, long jump and a silver in the 200m, which was won by PFNJ's Natasha Fox, who was also the winner of the 400m.

Kirton's clubmates also shined with a pair of gold including Jaden St Louis (U-20 400m hurdles, 800m), Michael Jack (U-15 long jump, 4x100m) and Isaiah Gemon (U-15 discus, shot put).

"Isaiah continues to impress and the Fatima College student broke the U-15 discus record with a throw of 42.50," said Nancoo. "Once Isaiah continues to train and work as diligently as he has been, he will soon be winning Carifta medals."

Like Gemon, two other field athletes won both the shot put and discus events in their respective categories. They were Jaguars' Konnel Jacob (U-20) and Mercury's Ashanti Marcelle (Girls U-15). DPAC's Nathaniel Mathura achieved the double gold in the U-17 javelin and pole vault.

Other multiple gold medallists were Rae-Ann Serville of Memphis, topping the girls U-17 400m, 800m and was part of the winning 4x400m team; Wright, who also won the girls U-20 400m; Concorde's Jesaiah Greenidge (U-15 100, 200m); Abilene Wildcats' Shakeem McKay (U-17 200m, 4x400m); Silver Bullets' Camile Lewis (U-20 high jump, 1,500m); Kaizen's Justin Guy (U-17 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles); and Silver Bullets' Christiemarie Maharaj (U-15 1,000m, 1,500m).

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