Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Carto, Fraser, Ageday make definite selection claim
Sprinters dominate CARIFTA trials
By Edison Jefford
On the same day that the Caribbean and perhaps a world’s athletics powerhouse, Jamaica, was hosting the final day of its CARIFTA Games trials, local junior athletes thronged the Police Sports Club Ground to also make their claim.
Seven hundred plus athletes did not compete as in Jamaica, and there were not 70 spaces up for grabs as was the case with the defending CARIFTA Champions – there were only an estimate of eight places to be filled on the local team.
IT’S ALL OVER!!! Curtis Fraser (centre) finishes strong, ensuring that he is not left out of contention in the U-17 Boys 100m at the CARIFTA Games trials yesterday.
But at the end of the day yesterday, three of those eight places were almost certainly filled with three of the best junior sprinters to have emerged in Guyana over the last two years turning in the requisite qualifying standards.
Tiffany Carto, Curtis Fraser and Chavez Ageday won double sprint events in times which will most likely get them on the team. Those three athletes understood that yesterday was not so much about winning, but doing so in qualifying times.
Carto comfortably ran under the 12.30 seconds required in the Under-17 Girls 100m with her time of 12.00 seconds, leaving Iana Graham, a former CARIFTA representative, who also ran the qualifying time, second with 12.30 seconds.
Since the activity yesterday was destined to be trials for national selection, third places became obsolete. Kaieteur Sport, therefore, only recorded the two top spots since these are the athletes that will be considered.
IMPECCABLE DOMINANCE!! Chavez Ageday (centre) leaves no stones unturned as he powers his way to the CARIFTA Games qualifying time and his personal best in the U-20 Boys 100m at the Police Sports Club Ground yesterday.
Carto, who continues to emerge as a definite junior force, was only one second off-target in the 200m when she ran 25.1 seconds to win the Under-17 event with nemesis, Graham, again relegated to second in 25.6 seconds. The asking time in the race was 25.00 seconds.
Arguably one of the most technically correct male sprinters locally, Fraser was ‘on the money’ from his first event-the Under-17 Boys 100m. He stormed to the finish line in 11.4 seconds, which he later protested was done in 10.9 seconds.
Fraser said that was the time he was given at the finish but the official sheets had 11.4. It was certainly a fast race from a spectators’ perspective. Christopher Hyderkhan took the second position with 11.6 seconds. The qualifying time for this event was set at 11.2 that Fraser hovered around regardless of his real time.
He came back, however, in the 200m to prove that he came to run times that will raise the selectors’ eyebrows. Fraser ran 22.6 seconds, which was under the 22.80 needed to be on any CARIFTA team, in winning the Under-17 Boys 200m.
The trials was as ironic as it was competitive with athletes obligated to run heat and final, and the irony being derived from the fact that the day belonged to the sprinters, who have not yet given Guyana any medals at the CARIFTA Games.
Ageday continued his impressive form from last year when he ran the World Youths time at the 2009 CARIFTA Games, but was too young to attend. He ensured that the 2010 race in the Cayman Islands will see him again with easy wins.
The East Coast-based athlete ran a fiery 10.5 seconds which has to be his personal best in 100m and 22.00 in the 200m. His 100m time was under the 10.80 needed and the time for the 200m below the 22.80 seconds qualifying standard.
Steve Nelson ran 10.7 seconds for second place in the Under-20 Boys 100m as Chappelle Corbin turned in 23.2 seconds for second in the 200m. Ageday had opted out of the Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) to focus on the 2010 CARITA Games.
Last year’s CARIFTA Games gold medallist and Junior Sportswoman of the Year, Jevina Straker was one minute off the mark in the Under-17 Girls 1500m with her time of 5:15.2 with Melissa Byass second in 5:33.2 seconds.
The qualifying time for that event was set at 5:14.00. It is the same event that Straker had won a CARIFTA gold in last year. Straker also won the 800m and 3000m in 2:30.00 and 11:06.00 respectively; both times were off the mark but providing Straker is fit, she will make the final composition on the national team.
Her counterpart, Jenella Jonas, who won a bronze medal at the Games last year, was not left out of the impression yesterday. Jonas won both the 800m and 1500m Under-12 Girls races yesterday in 2:33.7 and 5:12.8 seconds respectively.
Though both times were above the requisite standards, Jonas is likely to be selected based on the selectors’ propensity to nominate distance athletes. She defeated Carlissa Atkinson in the 800m and Jevina Sampson in the 1500m.
Kevin Bayley should also create a debate over his place on the national team after he just missed the qualifying time in the Under-20 Boys 800m, returning 2:01.7 when 2:00.00 is the mark. Tyshon Bentick was second in 2:02.5.
Bayley also won the 1500m in 4:23.3, which was above the 4:12.00 needed, with Trevon George closely behind on 4:24.7 seconds. The work ethic of Bayley should be enough to convince the selectors of his place on the team.
Nadine Rodrigues completed yet another double when she won the Open Girls 200m in a respectively comfortable 1:01.1 with Shanna Thornhill second in 1:02.6. She won the 200 m in 25.6 with Thornhill second again in 26.1 seconds.
Quinn George stunned Bentick in the 5000m, holding him off for more than 200m much to the delight of the packed stands at the ground in an entertaining run. His time was 17:35.4 while Bentick had 17:35.6 in the narrow escape.
The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) is expected to release the team today but from all reasonable estimations, Carto, Fraser, Ageday, Straker, Jonas and Bayley are likely to be on the list of athletes headed to the Cayman Islands.
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