Jaquone Hoyte wasn’t the only athlete celebrating double delight at the National Stadium on Sunday evening.
Fellow sprinter Matthew Clarke and young high-jumper Nathan Crawford-Wallis were also jumping for joy.
Hoyte, a 20-year-old freshman at Western Texas College completed the sprint double with a lifetime best 20.58 seconds in the men’s 200 metres on the final day of the Barbados Olympians Classic.
But Matthew Clarke, who finished second in a personal best 21.07 seconds, qualified for the World Junior Championships in Tampere, Finland, July 10-15.
Six-footer Kuron Griffith only managed fourth position in 21.29 seconds, behind multi-eventer Aaron Worrell (21.24), and failed to hit the 21.20 requirement.
Quarter-miler Jaria Hoyte showed his sprinting ability by taking the women’s 200 in 24.43 seconds from her younger St Michael schoolmates, Ashlee Lowe (24.52) and Rhea Hoyte (24.56).
Fast start
Lowe got her customary fast start and quickly went past Jaria coming off the bend, but once again faded in the last 50 metres as Jaria stormed back in the straight to overtake her. The fast-finishing Sarah Belle (24.57) was fourth, while neither Shemia Odaine nor Aaliyah Agard, returned for the final after running in the heats.
With Jonathan Jones surprisingly contesting the 400 hurdles where he was sixth in 54.68 seconds, Anthonio Mascoll easily won the Men’s 800 metres in 1:51.95 minutes from Roneldo Rock (1:57.11). Savion Hoyte was the first Under-18 finisher in 2:05.53 minutes.
After dropping out of Saturday’s 1500, Akeilia Knight, who is now at the University of Alaska Anchorage, convincingly captured the women’s 800 in 2:15.30 minutes, off her personal best 2:08.32 minutes.
Another compelling clash in the Men’s 400 hurdles saw Kion Joseph (51.15) pipping Fabian Norgrove (51.31) as both missed the 51-second NACAC and CAC qualification mark.
CARIFTA athletes Rasheeme Griffith (52.69) and Nathan Fergusson (53.53), who have already qualified for World Juniors, were third and fourth respectively. Tafari Bishop comfortably captured the Under-18 Boys’ 400 hurdles in 54.41 seconds.
The Open Men’s triple jump was plagued by a plethora of fouls, with Jonathan Miller having the best effort of14.91 metres. Lone female Jamie Drayton leapt 11.66 metres.
While spectators were clearly upset when the announcer said the meet had come to end because there were no relay teams with the high jump still in progress, Nathan Crawford-Wallis used that oversight to soar to new heights.
The tall, 16-year-old Foundation schoolboy cleared a personal best 1.95 metres in the high jump, bettering his 1.93 from the 246 Invitational Classic the previous weekend. Another Under-17 jumper Seth Williams also had a best clearance of 1.75 metres.
Triston Gibbons put the shot 18.62 metres take the Under-20 event while repeating his World Juniors qualification.
Dequan Lovell won the Men’s shot with a put of 15.64 metres with Tristan Whitehall (15.27) second.
Joy Squires took the Women’s discus with a toss of 38.76 metres while Zion Hill also hurled the javelin 63.56 metres. (EZS)
