BVI Closes 45th Carifta Games With Silver, Bronze Medals

Tarika "Tinker Bell" Moses sets the pace early in the U20 Girls 800m final, before going on to close out her Carifta Games career with a silver medal. PHOTO: Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway

Tarika “Tinker Bell” Moses sets the pace early in the U20 Girls 800m final, before going on to close out her Carifta Games career with a silver medal. PHOTO: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

By BVI Athletics Association

ST GEORGES, Grenada-The British Virgin Islands wrapped up the 45thCarifta Games in St. Georges, Grenada on Monday night with silver and bronze medals.

Tarika “Tinker Bell” Moses won the BVI’s second silver medal in the U20 Girls 800m, to go with Lakeisha “Mimi” Warner’s U20 Girls 400m Hurdles on Sunday, bringing the territory’s total to three. In her first outdoor race of the season, Moses ran 2 minutes, 11.20 seconds behind Jamaica’s Junelle Broomfield’s 2:06.21, to end her Carifta career with a second individual silver medal along with an U17 Girls 400m silver, from 2013.

“This is the most bumps and hits I ever got in an 800m race,” Moses reflected after collecting her award. “But, I just listened to my coach, ran a smart race, be relaxed and I just let the Grenada girl do all the pushing, because I know I had more foot speed. So when I got by the 200m, I used my foot speed and left her and I know I had it in the bag.”

Reflecting on her Carifta career, Moses said in her first appearance she had a fourth place finish in the 400m. She made the 400m final in her second appearance but couldn’t run because of an injury. She earned a 400m silver and the next year she couldn’t run because of her hamstring. “Last year, I didn’t have a good run, I was out of the game,” she noted. “To get a silver in the 800m, it feels amazing to end off (my career) with this medal.”

The U18 Girls 4x400m Relay quartet of Judine Lacey, Zacharia Frett, Shaniyah Caul and Beyonce DeFreitas, bagged, bagged a bronze medal behind Jamaica and the Bahamas, with a time of 3:47.43.

DeFreitas, 15, just missed an U18 Girls 200m bronze medal when she lowered her day old personal best from 24.14 seconds to 23.97, the No. eight performance on the BVI’s All Time List. Winds robbed L’T’Sha Fahie of a personal best in the U20 race, after placing seventh in 24.38.

Akeem Bradshaw was fifth in the Triple Jump with a leap of 14.86m on his second attempt, after cutting the sand at 7.13m on his opening jump, a mar, that was good for fifth place in the Long Jump.

Arianna Hayde and debutant Akira Phillip, finished sixth and seventh respectively in the U18 Girls Javelin Throw. Hayde had a mark of 38.60m, while Phillip recorded a personal best of 38.43m. Britney Peters, competing in the U20 Girls division, finished with a mark of 37.94 and finished sixth overall.

Warner Ends Carifta Games Career With 400m Hurdles Silver

Lakeisha "Mimi" Warner gives thanks after splitting the Jamaicans for 400m Hurdles silver> PHOTO: Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway

Lakeisha “Mimi” Warner gives thanks after splitting the Jamaicans for 400m Hurdles silver PHOTO: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

By BVI Athletics Association

ST GEORGES, Grenada-After five athletes advanced to finals in the 100 and 400m at the 45th Carifta Games in St. Georges, Grenada on Saturday, there were no medals until Lakeisha “Mimi” Warner snatched silver in the first final on Sunday afternoon in the 400m Hurdles, to end her Carifta career.

Warner split the Jamaican pair of Shannon Kalawan and Nicole Foster, to earn the silver medal in 58.14 seconds, solidifying her IAAF World Jr. Championships qualifying mark, which improves her own national record. Kalawan ran 56.29 to break a 13-year old championships record.

“I know I had to get out if I wanted to stay in the race because these Jamaicans, they going out hard,” explained Warner, who has two U17 Girls 800m bronze medals to go with U17 Girls 4x100m Relay bronze as well as U17 and U20 Girls 4x400m Relay silver medals. “So, I had to go just as hard, make a clean race, no chipping, trust myself, trust God and my coach that I could do it.”

Before Warner’s medal, debutant Rikkoi Brathwaite and L’T’Sha Fahie were both fourth respectively during Saturday’s opening day of the in the U18 Boys and U20 Girls 100m dashes.

Brathwaite-just the second BVI male to make a 100m final in the territory’s 40 years of Carifta Games participation, narrowly missed a bronze medal by 0.03 seconds, finising fourth in 10.69 seconds. He dropped his best from 10.92 a week ago at the Elmore Stoutt High School inter-house championships, to 10.88 in the prelims to advance.

The U20 Girls 100m final was a historic one for the Virgin Islands as the BVI’s Nelda Huggins and Fahie along with USVI’s Nia Jack, all advanced to the final. Jack ran a personal best of 11.70 seconds-which qualified her for the IAAF World Jr. Championships later this year-to finish ahead of Huggins’ 11.80 as both advanced from the heat. Fahie rode a 3.2 meters per second wind and placed second in 11.71.

Huggins aggravated her leg and skipped the final, where Fahie finished fourth in a 2.7 mps wind aided race, running 11.86. Jack ran 12.26 for seventh and suffered slight discomfort in her hamstring.

After a personal best of 53.72 seconds in the U20 Girls 400m preliminaries, Tarika “Tinker Bell” Moses finished fifth in the final in 54.02. Judine Lacey won her U18 Girls 400m heat in 56.56 seconds, before leg troubles limited her effectiveness in the final where she ran 57.04 for eight. In the boys equivalent, debutant Rackeel Jack ran 49.57 to finish sixth, after advancing with 49.64 in fourth place.

In the U20 Boys 400m final, Ronique Todman recorded a career best of 48.51 for sixth after running 49.11 to advance.

It marked the first time in his 40-year Carifta Games history, that the BVI had a finalist in all four male and female divisions.

K’Cei Moses was a non advancing sixth in his U18 Boys 400m heat in 51.46 seconds. Counterpart Shaniyah Caul ran 1:00.06 in fifth.

The BVI pair of U18 Girls High Jumpers, Z’Niah Hutchinson and Xiomara “Gia” Malone, settled for 1.55m after missing 1.60.

Beyonce DeFreitas dropped the fastest time in the U18 Girls final of 24.14 seconds, and will face the starter’s gun this evening, as well as Fahie, who ran a personal best of 24.77 in her U20 Girls race to finish fourth.

Zacharia Frett was among those not advancing in the 200m after finishing her U18 Girls race in 25.14. K’cei Moses ran 22.45 for fourth in his U18 Boys race. Todman’s 22.01 also did not make the finals cut.

In Sunday’s U18 Boys Discus Throw, BVI’s Djimon Gumbs finished sixth with a heave of 16.20m.

Kiwanna Emmanuel’s only legal U20 Girls Discus Throw measured 29.14m, as she fouled her other attempts.

The BVI will field an U18 Girls 4x400m relay this evening with Lacey, DeFreitas, Frett and Caul closing the territory’s participation in the event.

Patrick Harrigan Gets Carifta Games Starting Role

Patrick Harrigan starting during the National Jr. Championships PHOTO: Dean "The Sportsman" Greenaway

Patrick Harrigan starting during the National Jr. Championships PHOTO: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

By BVI Milesplit

When U.S. and British Virgin Islands athletes begin lining up behind their blocks in the 45th Carifta Games in St. Georges, Grenada on Saturday morning, many will hear a familiar voice saying; “on your marks.”

The BVI’s Patrick Harrigan is the official starter for this year’s edition of the games in which the territory began participating exactly 40 years ago.

“Much surprised,” Harrigan said. “I said ‘well look what it took for me to get to the Carifta Games after all these years.’ So I’m very much surprised.”

Harrigan said since the passing of the IAAF Regional Development Center Director in Puerto Rico, Lenford Levy, he hadn’t heard anything following a series of starting seminars he attended there and in Jamaica. He said he knew they were being prepared to start at Carifta and other competitions.

“But, there was nothing else,” he said. “I’m still wondering who made the nominations up to now. I was hoping that I would go to Jamaica for the Boyd and Girls Championships since we worked there and Teddy McCook was telling me he wanted to get me down there to start, so I wasn’t expecting it to be this quick and I wasn’t expecting it to be at Carifta.”

He said he must thank whoever made the nomination and felt it was worthwhile to have him going to Grenada to start. “I started in Grenada some years back just before the Hurricane came in and destroyed the stadium,” he explained. “I have a little knack of what Grenada is like, but it’s about trying to do a good job.”

Harrigan said he has been starting since he began teaching in the mid 1970s and had been at it for 38 years. Before becoming a starter, he was a member of the BVI Athletics Association and was into athletics on a whole.

“I didn’t compete much because I had a crazy injury trying to run the 100m so from then, the only thing I ever did was Shot Put and Discus Throw,” he pointed out. “But, I was always around athletics. It was as if there was a team working as officials, so after I started teaching I would start for the Primary School events so it just carried on from there starting every meet we had.”

What is he looking forward to in the starting role at the Carifta Games?

“Doing a good job,” he said heartedly. “Making sure that everyone that I start gets a fair start. During one of the workshops I attended, I told them that the meet isn’t about the officials and the guy running the workshop agreed. At the end of the meet, everyone leaves and don’t remember who the starter was, so it means that things were good. I’m looking forward to having a good time, everyone gets a far chance and hopefully, be able to start at Carifta wherever it is again.”

Personal bests for Fahie, Hill in Carifta Games 100m

By BVIAA

L’Tisha “Bella” Fahie, 2nd left, runs 11.85 seconds in the U18 Girls 100m semifinals a time she matched in the final for a personal best. L-R: Shaeil English, Jamaica, Fahie, Nia Jack, U.S. Virgin Islands and Jessie Zali, Martiniqu. Photo: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

L’Tisha “Bella” Fahie, 2nd left, runs 11.85 seconds in the U18 Girls 100m semifinals a time she matched in the final for a personal best. L-R: Shaeil English, Jamaica, Fahie, Nia Jack, U.S. Virgin Islands and Jessie Zali, Martiniqu. Photo: Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway

L’Tisha “Bella” Fahie and Taylor Hill’s personal bests 100m performances highlighted the first full day of action in the 44th Carifta Games with a historical flair in the twin island federation of St. Kitts-Nevis.

Aided by a +2.7 meters per second wind, Fahie advanced to her first Carifta Games U18 Girls final when she ran 11.85 seconds to grab one of the two automatic spots on offer in the second of three heats in the semifinal competition. Fahie then placed sixth in the 100m final matching the time in the semis—but the wind was +1.3 mps, well below the legal limit of 2.0—chopping her best from 12.01, jumping to No. 8 on the territory’s All Time List.

The U20 Girls 100m race was historic in that it contained three athletes from the U.S. and British Virgin Islands who advanced to the final. Hill ran a personal best of 11.83 into a -0.1 wind to finish fourth in the second of two semifinal heats. U.S. Virgin Islands’ Quashira McIntosh automatically advanced to the final when she finished third in 11.88 seconds while the BVI’s Nelda Huggins was fourth in 11.98 and like Hill, advanced as being the two fastest losers.

Hill—who drew Lane 2 and had Huggins on her inside in Lane I with McIntosh on the outside corridor in Lane 8—ran the fastest of the three to place fifth in 11.86. Huggins—who has seven Carifta Games medals to her credit—was a well beaten sixth placer in 12.13—and did not stand on the podium for a 100m medal the first time since 2011. She also lost to Hill for the first time since 2010, with Hill’s 11.83 moving her to No. 7 on the All Time Listing. McIntosh was 0.01 back of Huggins in seventh, stopping the clock at 12.14.

The afternoon began with Arianna Hayde and Kala Penn competing in the U18 Girls Long Jump, where Hayde finished seventh with a leap of 5.17m while Penn was 10th after cutting the sand at 5.01m. As she wasn’t among the eight Long Jump finalists Hayde went straight to the Javelin Throw and settled for a best effort of 37.80m on her opening throw and fouled the others to finish ninth.

Sunday morning’s competition will find twin sisters Trevia and Tynelle Gumbs in the U20 Girls Shot Put and the U18 Girls quartet of Beyonce DeFreitas, Zacharia Frett, Penn and Fahie contesting the 4x100m prelims.

Akeem Bradshaw will see action in the Long Jump on Sunday afternoon. Lakeisha “Mimi” Warner and Jonel Lacey will run the finals of the U18 Girls 400m Intermediate Hurdles followed by Kyron McMaster in the U20 Boys equivalent. McMaster ran 54.43 seconds to advance on Saturday morning.

VI to send squad of 13 to 2015 Carifta Games

By BVIAA

Home based BVI Carifta Games athletes along with officials, BVI Athletics Association Executive Committee members and BVI Olympic Committee President, Ephraim Penn. Five athletes will join those at home to make up the 13 for competition.  Photo: BVIOC

Home based BVI Carifta Games athletes along with officials, BVI Athletics Association Executive Committee members and BVI Olympic Committee President, Ephraim Penn. Five athletes will join those at home to make up the 13 for competition. Photo: BVIOC

A squad of 13 — including 11 females — will participate in the 44th annual Carifta Games to be held at Silver Jubilee Stadium in the twin islands federation of St, Kitts-Nevis from April 3-6, 2015.

Considered one of the strongest teams ever assembled, the bulk of the squad— which doesn’t include any U18 Male athletes for the first time in years — is in the U20 division with 11 athletes, eight of them female. Additionally, 11 of the 13 athletes have recorded a personal best performance this season with eight of the marks being a national record.

Athletes comprising the team with their season’s bests are:

U18 Girls: L’Tisha Fahie, 100/200m  (12.01/25.19); Arianna Hayde, Long Jump, Javelin Throw (5.42m/39.59m); and Kala Penn, Long Jump, Triple Jump (5.58/11.47m).

U20 Girls: Tarikah Moses, 800m (2:12.46); Tynelle Gumbs, Javelin Throw, Discus Throw, and Shot Put (36.95/42.16/12.98}; Treivia Gumbs, Shot Put and Discus Throw (14.59/37.77m); Nelda Huggins, 100/200m (11.85/24.95 seconds); Taylor Hill, 100/200m (12.02/24.38 seconds); Jonel Lacey, 400m Hurdles (1:02:61); Deya Erickson, 100m Hurdles (14.09 seconds); Lakeisha “Mimi” Warner, 400m Hurdles (1:04.71).

U20 Boys: Akeem Bradshaw, Long Jump/Triple Jump (7.25/14.78m); Kyron McMaster, 400m Hurdles (51.83 seconds).

Four athletes who have competed at the Carifta Games before —two of them with individual medals— will be debuting in five different events. Moses, a 2013 U17 Girls 400m silver medalist who missed the event last year because of injuries, will contest the 800m. Warner —who won U17 Girls 800m bronze medals in 2012 and 2013 but missed the podium last year— will see action in the 400m Intermediate Hurdles along with Jonel Lacey, who ran the 100, 200m and 300m Hurdles before, but wasn’t on last year’s squad. It also marks the first time that the BVI will field female 400m Hurdlers.

Arianna Hayde, at 15 the team’s youngest member who established a National Jr. Record in making her Heptathlon debut last year, will compete in the Long Jump and Javelin Throw.

An U20 4×100 and 4x400m Relay squad has also been entered for the first time since the territory began participating in the event in 1976. Last year’s squad earned four bronze medals.

BVI Athletics Association General Secretary Delva Thomas will manage the team, which will be coached by Erwin “Reds” Telemaque, Winston Potter, Karene King and Bianca Dougan. Marie Lumley and Christine Jackson will provide medical services.

3 bronze, 3 National Records on Carifta Games Day II

Arianna Hayde takes the break in the Heptathlon 800m en route to winning her heat in 2 minutes 40.39, good for 4th overall en route to establishing a National Youth/Jr. Record of 3769 points

Arianna Hayde takes the break in the Heptathlon 800m en route to winning her heat in 2 minutes 40.39, good for 4th overall en route to establishing a National Youth/Jr. Record of 3769 points

By: Dean Greenaway

Two individual bronze medals and an U18 Girls 4 x 100m Relay bronze medal brought the BVI’s 43rd Carifta Games medal haul to four after the second day of intense competition in Fort de France, Martinique on Sunday night.

Three National Youth and National Jr. Records—in the U18 Boys 400m Hurdles, U18 Girls 4x100m Relay and the Heptathlon—and an IAAF World Jr. Championships qualifier came on Sunday’s second day of the 3-day competition that wraps up today, as the territory’s athletes seek to improve on their rankings with competition in seven events.

Tynelle Huggins gave the BVI its second medal on during the morning session, when she earned an U20 Girls Discus Throw bronze with a heave of 40.45m—the second best mark of her career.

Today, she competes in the Javelin Throw, where she has mined U17 gold in 2012 and U20 silver in 2013.

On Sunday afternoon, Kyron McMaster put the disappointment of Saturday night’s sixth place finish in the 400m final behind to snatch bronze in a National Jr. Record time of 52.85 seconds in the U18 Boys 400m Intermediate Hurdles. It was only his third time running the event after he placed third in his heat in 56.08 to reach the final.

McMaster became the second IAAF World Jr. Championship qualifier in the competition joining Huggins who on Saturday night, added the 100m to her 200m qualifier from early in the season.

In the BVI’s final event of Sunday evening, the quartet of Zacharia “Zakie” Frett, Kala Penn, L’Tisha “Lea” Fahie and Huggins, won the territory’s fourth bronze when they finished third behind Jamaica and the Bahamas in the U18 Girls 4x100m Relay, with a National Jr. Record time of 46.30 seconds. The mark eclipsed the 46.62 ran at the Leeward Islands Invitational in 2013.

Penn was seventh in the Long Jump after cutting the sand at 5.60m, before taking up relay duties on the second leg.

Huggins—who became the BVI’s most prolific Carifta Games medalist with seven, breaking a tie with both Keita Cline and Chantel Malone who bagged six each—won her 200m heat in 23.6 seconds hand time on Sunday evening, to qualify for her third successive final. She’s seeking her first medal in this event.

Before taking up 4x100m Relay duties on the second leg, Kala Penn came seventh in the Long Jump after cutting the sand at 5.60m aided by a +2.6 mps breeze, while Ashley Penn was 18th after a 4.95m effort. Kala will see Triple Jump action today.

Two time bronze medalist Lakeisha “Mini” Warner qualified for tonight’s U18 Girls 800m final, after running 2 minutes 17.81 seconds to finish third in her heat.

Arianna Hayde continued the stellar performances of debutants when she finished seventh overall in the Heptathlon with a National Youth and National Jr. Record of 3,769 points, which came after winning her 800m heat in 2 minutes 40.39 seconds—good for 4th oveall. Only Kanishque “Kadi” Todman’s 4188 points from last year is better.

In the U18 Boys High Jump, Tahj Malone cleared 1.90m to place ninth overall

Tarique “Tweety” Moses had a non qualifying time of 2:04.23 in the U20 Boys 800m.

 

4th straight LIME National Jr. Championships sprint double for huggins

GreenawayBy: Dean Greenaway

Nelda Huggins of Top Notch Track Club—a two times Carifta Games  U17 Girls 100m silver medalist—won her fourth straight BVIAA-LIME National Jr. Track and Field Championships sprint double to highlight the weekend competition. [Read more…]