Barbadian hurdler Rivaldo Leacock warmed up for this weekend’s CARIFTA Games with a personal best on Saturday at the 2013 Falcon Games in Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Leacock clocked 52.94 seconds to take the Under-18 boys’ 400 metres hurdles from ron Lewis of Zenith who was second in 55.93. He seems to relish the conditions in Trinidad, having done 54.38 there recently during the CARIFA trials.
Kion Joseph was marginally off his best of 51.41 in the men’s race wth a time of 51.46, finishing third behind Olympians Jehue Gordon of Trinidad who clocked 49.65 seconds and Puerto Rico’s Eric Alejandro who did 50.66. Dario Scantlebury of Rising Stars also did a season’s best 53.86, finishing fifth.
Tia-Adana Belle was second in the women’s race in 62.20 behind Neon Trackers’ Ramona Modeste who did 60.55 seconds, while Springer Memorial’s Velcina Hunte was fourth in 1:14.59.
Mario Burke also lowered his time in the 200 metres from 21.69 to 21.56 seconds to take the Under-18 boys’ 200 metres. He still needs 21.45 to qualify for the World Youth Championships.
National champion Shakera Reece was runner-up in the women’s 200 metres in 23.76 seconds, behind Kamaria Durant of Simplex who clocked 23.42. Reece needs to lower her time to at least 23.30 for the World Championships “B” standard and was just off the 23.70 for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Senior Championships.
The news was not so good for former CARIFTA champion Shekeim Greaves who clocked 22.18 seconds and did not make the cut for the men’s final.
Meanwhile, Springer Memorial’s Shaquona Scott (28.96), Rodnica Jones (29.84), Destinee Straughn (28.99), Felicia Jarvis (29.03) and Antonia Alexander (29.85) finished down the field in their respective 200 metres.
However, schoolmate Rosette Hoyte took the silver medal in the Under-15 girls’ race with 26.75 seconds, gold going to Neon Trackers’ Jenea Spinks in 25.78.
Tristan Whitehall (41.31 metres) and BC Trac’s Kemar Holder-Edghill (41.24) took silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s discus. Gold went to Striders’ Micah McNish with 42.66m.
Barbadian Henderson Dottin also won the men’s jump at 2.10 metres and Jalisa Burrowes the Under-18 girls’ long jump with 5.66m.
Hayley Matthews was fourth in the Under-18 girls’ javelin with 28.62m, while Springer’s Latisha Hackett (9.42) and Tiffany Morris (8.44) were also out of medal contention in the shot put. Tanisha Stanford was fifth in the 3 000m in 12 minutes 28.84 seconds.
Jerrad Mason was third in the men’s 800m in 1:54.29. There were two heats, with Cliffton Sylvester of Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force and Kenya’s Silas Kisorio, the 2012 Run Barbados 10K champion, both clocking 1:53.31. The camera separated them – Sylvester first in 1:53.07 and Kisorio three-thousandths of a second behind.
Akeem Marshall took silver in the Under-18 boys’ race with a time of 1:58.26 as Cougars’ Ashton Gill won gold in 1:58.07.
Springer Memorial’s Jade Searles was also second in the Under-18 girls’ race in 2:28.93 behind Ishawn Francis (2:24.30). Vanessa Hyman (2:33.09) and Jaiden Clarke (2:33.68) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Younger athletes Tricia Phillips (2:40.56), Neviandra Greenidge (2:44.13), Dwy-Ishia Browne (2:49.49) as well as Shoncarra Clarke with 2:58.39, finished down the field.
