media_artricles :: 2016

13 attain Rio benchmark at NAAA championships

The track at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo saw many great performances by T&T's athletes on a record breaking weekend at the three-day National Association of Athletic Administrations National Gas Company (NGC)/Sagicor National Open Championships, which wrapped on Sunday. The senior meet began on Friday.

Ideally, the goal of each athlete was to book their spot on the team to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in August. In the coming days, it will be learned who will represent the red, white and black at the biggest sporting event in the world.

A few achieved the Olympic qualification standards in their respective events including star of the senior meet Michelle-Lee Ahye, Richard Thompson, Rondell Sorillo, Machel Cedenio, Cleopatra Borel, Janeil Bellille, Keston Bledman, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Semoy Hackett, Kamaria Durant, Reyare Thomas, Kai Selvon and Khalifa St Fort.

Ahye, who completed the sprint double, taking the 100 metres in 11.00 seconds on Saturday night, then followed up with victory in the 200m the next day, crossing in a time of 22.33. Both events saw the top four finishers achieving the standards.

The other qualifiers in the dash were Semoy Hackett and Baptiste, who sped across the line together in 11.07 and the IAAF World Under-20 Championships bound St Fort, who ran a new personal best of 11.16 in the 100m dash, improving on her 11.19 in winning silver at the IAAF World Youth Championships last year, which is also a new national record, bettering the previous mark of 11.17.

In the 200m were Hackett (22.61), Reyare Thomas in 22.72, Baptiste (22.79), Kai Selvon (22.88) and Kamaria Durant (23.13). They all met the Olympic qualification standard of 23.20.

Thompson's first sub-10 performance for the season in the men's 100m final was one of the key highlights. The three-time Olympic silver medallist and Sorillo went 1-2 in the men's dash on Saturday, the duo separated by just 0.02 seconds.

Thompson won in 9.97 aided by a marginal 1.7m/s tailwind, narrowly ahead of Sorillo, who also went under 10, in an exciting finish, which saw the top three finishers meet the Olympic qualifying mark (10.16). Bledman crossed third in 10.10.

However, Sorillo turned the tables on Thompson in the 200m and sprinted away with the gold in a qualifying time of 20.24 (Standard 20.50). Thompson followed in 20.54.

Cedenio did not disappoint and brought heat in the men's 400m. Attacking the first 100 metres, the 2014 gold medallist ran a measured race, accelerating into the home straight and completed a championships-breaking record run of 44.45. Lalonde Gordon, two-time bronze medallist, was second in 44.69. Both made the standard of 45.40.

Bellille too also registered a championship record in the women's 400m hurdles, in a time of 56.11 (Standard 56.20). Borel had a best toss on the evening of 17.88 in the women's shot put.

All will now be preparing to take on the world at the Rio Games with the track and field portion carded to run from August 12-21.

Sunday results:
Relays
Women 4x100m
1 T&T (Sarah Wollaston, Khalifa St Fort, Akeera Esdelle, Jenea Spinks) - 46.36
2 Dare TO Dream - Haiti (Mulern Jean, Jossette Pierre, Ja'Meisha Richards, Danae David) - 47.76
Men
1 Abilene Wildcats (Nathan Farinha, Holland Cabara, Jerod Elcock, Jonathan Farinha) - 40.44
2 Alpha (Wynston La Croix, Darvin Sandy, Tacuma Sterling, Micah Ballantyne) - 41.07
3 Utt Fast Track (Adisa Sorillo, Kyle Bacchus, Aaron Lewis, Hakeem Gomez) - 41.47
Men 4x400m
1 T&T (Jacob St Clair, Dwight Hillare, Judah Taylor, Kashief King) - 3:10.42
2 Grenada (Junior Charles, Payton Hazzard, Phillip Marcelle, Joel Redhead) - 3:10.97
3 Utt Fast Track (Tauren George, Lincoln London, Kyle Stanley, Arinze Chance) - 3:15.42
heptathlon
1 Kechelle Douglas (UTT Fast Track) - 5,025 points
2 Khemani Roberts (Panthers) - 4,957
3 Marsha Mark-Baird (Petrotrin) - 4,315
Decathlon
Men
1 Shevon Smith (Toco Tafac) - 4,091
Boys U-18 Decathlon
1 Anderson Subero (Sangre Grande SE) - 4,470
2 Justin Parks (Sangre Grande SE) - 4017
3 Tyrese Trotman (Sangre Grande SE) - 3,425

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