media_artricles :: 2017

St Fort to defend 100m at Carifta

Sprinter Khalifa St Fort will attempt to defend her gold medal at this year's Carifta Games in Curacao over the Easter weekend after cruising past the finish line in the final of the Girls Under-20 100 metres event in a time of 11.30 seconds, comfortably beating the qualifying mark of 11:60 seconds.

This was on day one of the Carifta Trials taking place at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo over the weekend.

Yesterday St Fort, who was voted the First Citizens Junior Sportswoman of the Year earlier this year, was the lone sprinter in the event making the standard in the event. The other runners may have a chance to join her in an upcoming organised meet between T&T and Barbados.

Facing a tailwind of 1.9 metres/second (m/s) in only her first event of the year, St Fort, who was also a bronze medallist at the 100 metre dash at the World Juniors in P0land last year, showed why she is one of T&T's potential Olympic medallist, pulling away from the field to assure her place at the Curacao games, despite literally running alone.

Shikyla Walcott of Simplex finished second well outside the qualifying time in 11.92 while Akeera Esdelle of the Point Fortin New Jets (PFNJ) failed to earn a qualifying berth, despite being among the country's 4x100 relay team to have earned a bronze medal last year in the women's 4x100m relay. She finish disappointingly in a time of 11.94.

In the men's equivalent, however Jerod Elcock of Abilene was the first to cross the finish line in 10.74 but could not meet the 10.60 qualifying time to book a spot at the games.

Meanwhile, Concorde's Akilah Lewis led a group of three U-18 runners to secure places at the Carifta, all easily meeting the standard of 12.15 despite a 0.2 tailwind.

Lewis, who captured the silver medal last year in St George's, Grenada, was an outright winner in the Trials yesterday, clocking a time of 11.75 for the top spot ahead of Zenith's Ayla Stanisclaus 11.94, a competitor at the games in last year. Deleth Charles completed the top three finishers for Memphis Pioneers in 11.98.

Among the U-18 boys 100m race, 15-year-old Avindale Smith cruised to victory in a personal best time of 10.45 to put Abilene into contention for a medal at the games. With his time, he didn't only finish ahead of the 12.85m qualifying standard but managed to pull the other four finishers into the games, including second Adell Colthrust (10.50), third Shakeel John (10.72) and fourth PFNJ's Timothy Frederick of in 10.74.

Selected results

400m

Girls U-18 (Standard 57.08): 1 Rae Ann Serville (Memphis Pioneers) 55.08, 2 Joanna Rogers (Cougars) 56.67, 3 Patrice Richards (Neon Wolves) 56.67.

Boys U-18 (Standard 49.25): 1 Che Lara (Abilene) 47.80, 2 Tyshawn Gray (Zenith) 49.65.

Boys U-20 (Standard 47.80): 1 Jacob St Clair (Abilene) 46.53, 2 Kashief King (PFNJ) 47.56, 3 Judah Taylor (Abilene) 47.72, 4 Zidan Martin (IG Fastlane) 47.78

100m

Girls U-18 (Standard 12.15):1 Akilah Lewis (Concorde) 11.75, 2 Ayla Stanisclaus (Zenith) 11.94, 3 Deleth Charles ( Memphis Pioneers) 11.98.

Boys U-18 (Standard 12.85):1 Avindale Smith (Abilene) 10.45, 2 Adell Colthrust ( Abilene) 10.50, 3 Shakeel John (Concorde) 10.72, 4 Timothy Frederick (PFNJ) 10.74.

Girls U- 20 (Standard 11.80): 1 Khalifa St Fort (Unattached) 11.30, 2 Shikyla Walcott (Simplex) 11.92, 3 Akeera Esdelle (PFNJ) 11.94.

Boys U-20 100 (Standard 10.60): 1 Jerod Elcock (Abilene) 10.74, 2 Jalen Purcell (Simplex) 10.77, 3 Onil Mitchell (PFNJ) 10.92.

Javelin

Girls U-20 Javelin (Standard 39.00): 1 Asha James (Zenith) 42.96, 2 Akida Briggs (Toco Titans) 39.94

Girls U-18 Javelin (Standard 40.00): 1 Kymoi Noray (Zenith) 42:53, 2 Jaeda Attong-Julien (Burnley) 32.90.

Girls U-18 Shot Putt (Standard 13.50): 1 Ianna Roach (Mdemphis Pioneers) 14.30, 2-Shantel Licorish (Striders) 12:83

Discus

Boys U-20 Discus (Standard 47.00): 1 Clarence Hannibal (Falcons) 50.77, 2 Konnel Jacob (Jaguars) 50.11.

110 Hurdles

Boys U-20 (Standard 14.70):1- Jude Atwell (TAP) 14.66, 2- Kerlon Ashby (Kaizen Panthers) 14.88.

Girls u-18 11om Hurdles (Standard 14.60): 1- Chezia Phillip (Toco Titans) 14.40, 2- Patrice Richards (Neon Wolves) 15.24

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