By Neto Baptiste
Heading into the final day of competition at the 51st Carifta Games held at the Kirani James Stadium in Grenada on Monday, Antigua and Barbuda would have already picked up three medals, including a record-breaking gold medal performance in the Under-17 Boys Javelin competition by Maliek Francis.
The Antigua Grammar School (AGS) student threw a distance of 68.84 meters to surpass the previous record of 64.31 meters thrown five years ago by Keyshawn Strachan of the Bahamas. Francis followed up his record-breaking 68.84 meters with a throw of 62.39 meters to finish ahead of the field. He achieved distances of 54.06m and 58.70m in the first two rounds of the competition.
There were medals as well for sprinters Tyra Fenton and Geolyna Dowdye who both won bronze in their respective events. Fenton, a student of the St Anthony’s Secondary School (SASS), brought home the country’s second medal when she won bronze in the Under-17 Girls 400 meters final in a time of 54.89 seconds on Saturday afternoon while Dowdye, of PMS, clocked 11.64 second to finish third in the Under-20 Girls 100 meters final also on Saturday.
Coach of the team and former national athlete, Teddy Daley, said all of the athletes performed well throughout the games.
“All of them did not medal but most of them would have made the final of the event they were entered and with the exception of the under-20 boys 200 meters, we got as far as the semifinals round where two persons were in the semifinals in Kevon Campbell and Kasiya Daley. We won two bronze medals in Tyra Fenton and Geolyna Dowdye and we set a new record in the javelin under-17 boys winning the gold medal there so all in all the team has been doing well; we continue to do well,” he said.
Daley is anticipating additional good performances late Monday by Fenton in the 200 meters final and also by the country’s 4×4 relay team to close out the 2024 games.
“This morning, the last day [Monday] we will be competing in the javelin under-17 girls and Zonique is presently out there in fourth position at present and very close to third, just a matter of centimetres, so let’s see how se can complete that assignment. Our guys are warming up for a place in the final of the 4×4 Under-20 Boys and I am expecting that we will make that final. Also, later today we have Tyra Fenton competing in the 200 meters Under-17 Girls final,” the coach said.
Squad: Tyra Fenton, Zonique Charles, Gerilin Barnes, Maliek Francis, Geolyna Dowdye, La’Nica Locker, Hannah Charles, Alyssa Dyett, Ajani Daley, Nicardo Clarke, Kasiya Daley, Osei Gardner, Kevon Campbell, Caandre Pascal, Dwayne Fleming and Cleon Joseph.