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Ten athletes likely for CARIFTA Games
By Edison Jefford
When the official Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) CARIFTA Games team shortlist comes out tomorrow,
Stephan James
ten athletes are likely to be on that list after five made the qualifying standard, and another five were closest to the yardstick identified for selection.
Pressing the AAG President, Colin Boyce, to identify the shortlist yesterday, he merely informed that an official list will be available tomorrow after the association met Friday to select the team. He said that ten athletes were shortlisted for the 2012 Bermuda Games.
Half of the ten athletes are certain; those include Chavez Ageday, Stephan James, Davin Fraser, Tevin Garraway and Timothy Fullington. These athletes all made the qualifying standards, which the AAG had set ahead of the trials on Thursday at the Police Ground.
Ageday qualified comfortably with a fast 10.3 seconds to win the 100m. The AAG had set 10.6s in the Boys U-20 category. Fraser also qualified in the 100m with 10.4s. Ageday qualified for the 200m as well with 21.5s even though he was second to James’ 21.3s.
The AAG had set 21.5s as the standard for the 200m Boys U-20 race. James ran 49.5 seconds in his main event, the 400m, which was above the 48.00s set to qualify. However, James often rises to the occasion, as he did last year, at international meets.
James made every major international final he competed in last year, including the CARIFTA Games, World Juniors and South American Juniors where he picked up a bronze medal. His time in the 400m at those prestigious meets averaged 47 seconds.
Then there is the emergence of young gun, Garraway, who ran 10.8s in the 100m that was below the 10.9s for the U-17 category. Among the sprinters, Fullington was the only field-events athlete among the qualifiers. He made the standard in the javelin throw.
Those five athletes are the priority for the association. However, there are five others, who turned in impressive performances that were also considered; while the AAG President was mum on the names, they were easy to deduce based on their performances.
Guyana has produced more CARIFTA Games medals in the 5000m race than any event from the feats of Vish Sukhmangal to Cleveland Forde, who were both back-to-back gold medalists; there is likely to be the application of the logic that Guyana has a good chance of continuing that tradition if Samuel Caiton competes at the 2012 Games.
Letitia Myles
Caiton emerged with an impressive victory over Nathaniel Giddings at the trials in the 5000m in a time of 16:40.8, which was one minute above the 15:40.00 standard. Caiton was uncontested in his first major race since Region Nine’s, Brian Rodrigues discovered him.
In addition to Caiton, Letitia Myles was at her best in the 100m and 200m U-20 races. Myles ran 12.00 seconds in the 100m and 24.9s in the 200m to win both events. The standard that was set is 11.9s for the 100m and 24.8s in the 200m. Myles was spilt seconds away from achieving both of those standards and is likely to be considered as a result.
Her local sprint rival, Tiffany Carto may also be considered for finishing closely behind Myles in the two sprint races, however, U-17 ace, Tirono Mitchelle could be named ahead of Carto for her performances in the 100m especially. Mitchelle ran 12.1 seconds in that race that missed the 12.0 mark the association had identified for qualification.
Then there is Shomaine Daniels, Devon Barrington and Andrea Foster, who restricted a two-time CARIFTA gold medalist, Jevina Straker to second place twice on the same day; these athletes all had creditable performances in their respective events at the trials.
The bottom line is that besides the five athletes who qualified, five others will come from a pool that includes, Caiton, Myles, Carto, Mitchelle, Daniels, Barrington and Foster. According to the AAG, tomorrow the official shortlist will reveal who made the cut.
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