AMERICAN Youth Championships medallists Chantoba Bright and Daniel Williams, along with Schools’ Nationals record-holder Kenisha Phillips, and Linden’s Compton Caesar were among those who clinched CARIFTA Games qualifying marks at last weekend’s National Youth and Junior Championships, held at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora. Also making the cut was distance runner Anfernee Headecker, while there were also Mercury Fast Laners’ Tiah Thornhill and Christianburg’s Jermain Brown.
Distance runner Claudrice McKoy almost touched the qualifying time in the girls’ Under-20 1500m but she finished in 4:48.79s when the qualifying time (QT) was a flat 4:48.00s.
Most of the athletes, however, only managed to make qualifying standards in one event at the Championships, which also served as the CARIFTA Games trials.
Another great performance in the girls’ Under-18 long jump was Bright’s leap of 5.77m, quite outside the 5.55m set by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG). However, in the triple jump, the CARIFTA Games bronze medallist was short of the 11.8m, after her best jump only took her to 11.67m. Nonetheless she still won the event.

Sprinters Phillips and Caesar did their regular sprint double wins, while Daniel Williams picked up the 200-400 double wins as well as the high jump victory. However, they each only qualified in one event.
For Phillips, it was the girls’ Under-18 100m, where she overcame Christianburg’s Onasha Rogers to achieve the 12 seconds QT. In the 200m, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) athlete took down Rogers’ clubmate Deshanna Skeete but her 24.83 seconds was just outside the 24.5 seconds that she needed.
Caesar, also from Christianburg, competed in the junior category, where he defeated SAYC silver medallist Tyrell Peters in both events. The two-time Commonwealth Youth finalist took the 200m win, on Sunday, in 21.27 seconds, outdoing the 21.68 seconds that Peters ended with. Peters’ time was just beyond the 21.60 seconds standard.
On Saturday in the 100m Caesar registered 10.49 seconds and Peters 10.69 seconds. Both passed the 10.35 seconds mark.
In the boys’ Under-18 200m, Williams prevailed with 21.83 seconds, just inside the 21.9 seconds mark, while in the 400m his 50.05 seconds was outside the 49 seconds, and in the high jump he cleared 1.88m, but could not clear the 1.90m qualifying standard.
Headecker performed in the boys’ 800m and 1500m, finishing the former in 1:54.17s just inside the 1:55.00s QT. In the 1500m, a 4:08.14s was not good enough, as the standard was set at 4.05.00s.
Running Brave’s Samuel Lynch finished close behind in the 800m and clocked 1:56.98s.
Christianburg’s Browne qualified in the boys’ Under-17 long jump where his 6.87m was just over the 6.80m mark. Thornhill clocked 2:13.66 seconds in the girls’ Under-18 800m where the qualifying time is 2:16.00s.