media_artricles :: 2016

St Fort, Hislop notch World Junior standards

Khalifa St Fort and Akani Hislop lead a list of seven local athletes attaining the qualifying standards for this year's World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland from July 19-26.

The youngsters achieved the feat at the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA)/National Gas Company (NGC)/Tobago House Assembly (THA) National Junior Track and Field Championships at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago on the weekend.

Joining the duo are Jacob St Clair (Abilene Wildcats), Kashief King (Point Fortin New Jets), Jeminise Parris (Memphis Pioneers), Jenea Spinks (Concorde) and Rae-Ann Serville (Memphis Pioneers).

St Fort, the CARIFTA girls' sprint champion, sped past the women's 100 metres qualifying mark of 11.80, running 11.53 (-0.7) in the heats of the girls Under-20 event on the opening day. With the qualifying time under her belt, the 2015 World Youth 100m silver medallist/World Senior 4x100m bronze medallist, opted out of the semifinals. Her training partner, Sara Wollaston, won the finals in 12.04.

Hislop, another CARIFTA gold medallist, claimed the boys U-20 200m in 21.13 (-0.3) to dip under the World Junior mark of 21.35 on the second day of the meet. The 2014 Youth Olympic Games finalist bagged the 100m title on the opening day in 10.57, missing the 10.55 standard by 0.02.

St Clair and King pushed each other under the 47.70 standard in the boys U-20 400m with St Clair taking the gold in 47.19 ahead of King (47.39). With Third placer, Judah Taylor (Abilene Wildcats), clocking 47.87 and Dwight St Hillaire (Kaizen Panthers) in fourth in 48.02, the quartet are in contention for selection on T&T's 4x400m team.

Parris won the girls U-20 100m hurdles in 14.19 (-1.9). Running alone in her age-group, as she had done for most of the season, the 2013 CARIFTA winner, crossed the line just inside the 14.20 standard. Parris also won the girls U-20 200m in 24.74.

Spinks made her case to join St Fort in the 100m in Poland, when she won the girls U-18 100m in 11.79 (0.5).

Serville sealed the girls U-16 400m in 55.15 to go faster than the World Junior barrier of 55.25. However, the 14 year-old is too young to compete at the global meet. Her victory in the one lap race though was one of four titles she won, joining Anya Akili (Kaizen Panthers) as quadruple champions. Serville added the girls U-16 100m hurdles and 200m gold medals to her tally and then anchored Memphis to victory in the 4x100m event.

Akili secured the girls U-18 100m, 400m hurdles, high jump and long jump crowns and was going for a fifth in the girls 4x400m but the event was scratched because of insufficient entries. Akili's club mate, Khemani Roberts, was a triple winner, taking the girls U-20 high jump, long jump and 400m. The national junior heptathlon record holder, also placed third in the shot put and javelin.

Kaizen Panthers emerged at the top club with 30 medals that included 14 gold, five silver and 11 bronze, ahead of Memphis Pioneers 22 (11/7/ 4), Cougars 23 (8/8/7), Abilene Wildcats 20 (8/6/6), Tobago Falcons 11(8/3/0), Zenith 11(5/4/2), Toco Titans 9 (2/5/2) and D'Abadie Progressive 7(2/3/2), respectively.

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