Sprinter Khalifa St Fort had all gathered at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo holding their breaths for more than one reason yesterday in the final of the girls Under—20 100 metres event at the Carifta trials.
St Fort blazed the field to win the dash in 11.39 seconds and qualified for the Games set for Grenada over the Easter weekend (March 26—28) but her momentum seemed to have carried over the bar and into the pit surrounding the track.
A number of officials quickly ran to her aid along with her coach Olympic medalist Ato Boldon and one of her training partners Richard Thompson, but St Fort declared that she was okay and after a few minutes was out of the pit and back to her camp to the relief of everyone.
Following St Fort to the line was another US—based sprinter accompanying Boldon, Sarah T Wollaston in 12.04 and Cougars' Jada Barker in this in 12.08. The other two sprinters just fell short of making the Carifta standard time of 11.80.
The boys U—18 100m final saw the top three finishers Adell Coltrust of Abilene (10.64), Toco Titans' Tyrell Edwards (10.75) and Avindale Smith (10.81) making the qualifying time of 10.85. Coincidentally Edwards had already achieved the standard in topping both the preliminary and semifinal rounds with times of 10.82 and 10.80, respectively.
Concorde's Janea Spinks was the only runner in the girls U—18 race to make the standard (12.00), clocking 11.98 to finish ahead of Akidah Lewis also of Concorde (12.05) and Shania McArthur of Memphis Pioneers (12.33), respectively.
Other making the qualifying standards were Asha James of Zenith in the girls U—18 Javelin event, Renee Stoddard of Speed Factory in the girls U—20 400m.
Former CARIFTA medalists Shaiann Charles of DPAC and Chelsea James of Falcons will join them at the junior event after qualifying for the girls U—20 discus event. Charles won the throw with best effort of 41.70, while James tossed the apparatus 40.93 to surpass the standard of 40.00m.
Also among the boys reaching the required standards are former medallist Omari Benoit in the U—20 boys high jump, Long Jump (6.80). All three top finishers in the boys U—18, Josiah Edwards of Abilene (6.97), Aaron Cruickshank of DPAC (6.88) and Clement Campbell of Memphis (6.87) qualified.
Yesterday results
Girls
U—20
100m (Standard 11.80)
1 Khalifa St Fort (Unattached)—11.39
2 Sarah T Wollaston (Unattached)—12.04
3 Jada Barker (Cougars)—12.08
400m (55.30)
1 Renee Stoddard (Speed Factory)—55.30
2 Thyla—Marie Scott (Memphis Pioneers —56.86
3 Jerisa James (Memphis Pioneers)—57.18
100m Hurdles (Std 14.60)
1 Jeminise Parris (Memphis Pioneers)—13.92
1,500m (4:05.00)
1 Qyone Antersijn (Trupial Curacao)—5:08.04
2 Anisa Samuel (Abilene)—6:32.14
Long jump (5.80)
1 Alisha St Louis (DPAC)—5.33
2 Rain Harper (UTT Fast Track)—4.93
3 Jamellia Potts (Kaizen Panthers)—4.92
Discus (40.00m)
1 Shaiann Charles (DPAC)—41.70
2 Chelsea James (Falcons)—40.93
3 Kieanne Blackman (Memphis Pioneers)—35.48
Javelin (39.00)
1 Akidah Briggs (Titans)—38.36
2 Ayana Galsgow (Tafac)—38.23
3 Alice Mark (Dovers)—21.18
U—18
100m (12.00)
1 Jenea Spinks (Concorde)—11.98
2 Akidah Lewis (Concorde)—12.05
3 Shania McArthur (Memphis)—12.33
100m Hurdles (14.70)
1 Anya Akili (Kaizen Panthers)—14.50
2 Cheziah Phillip (Toco Titans)—14.42
3 Safiya John (Kaizen Panthers)—14.91
400m (56.50)
1 Rae—Anne Serville (Memphis) — 56.79
2 Joanna Rogers (Cougars)—57.48
3 Patrice Richards (Neon Wolves)—58.14
1,500m (4:55.00)
1 Kershel McIntyre (Cougars)—5:09.19
2 Woude Van Der (Trupial Curaçao)—5:53.29
3 Delisha Paul (DPAC)—5:57.32
Javelin Throw (40.00)
1 Asha James (Zenith)—43.59
2 Talena Murray (Zenith)—38.81
3 Kymoi Noray (Zenith)—35.15