… Guyana settle for second place

GUYANA’s Compton Caesar had to dig deep and push hard to make it to a silver in the boys’ 200m final, after a fierce fight from Brazil’s Derick Silva after a leg injury in the heats put paid to his sprint double aspirations in the South American Junior Championships, which concluded last night at the National Track and Field Centre in Leonora.
In the girls’ 4x400m, the team of Avon Samuels, Tandika Haynes, Kenisha Phillips and Joanna Archer added a final gold to bring Guyana’s tally to three, as the team ended with a total of 25 medals, and in second place behind Brazil, in the points table.
Guyana missed out on a fourth gold after the boys’ 4x400m team put on a powerful performance for their supporters to be the first across the finishing line, but later got the devastating news that they were disqualified for a baton-passing infringement.
With 32 medals, and 287 points, Brazil ended as the unquestionable winners of the 42nd Championships, defending their title, and retaining their name as South America’s powerhouse in athletics. Guyana ended with 198 points for second place.

Colombia took third with 165 points, and 18 medals, of which six were gold. Of Brazil’s tally, a whopping 18 were gold medals, leaving Brazil to end as the only team with a double-digit gold medal count.
Guyana had the second highest number of silver medals, taking 10, Brazil had 11 silvers.
Caesar’s silver added to the silver medals that Joanna Archer, Tremaine Beckles, and Dennies Roberts also earned yesterday. The CARIFTA Games gold medallist had many worried when he pulled up in the 200m heats, and had to be carted off on a stretcher.
Many Guyanese had turned up with hopes of seeing the Lindener blaze away with a sprint double, after he had humbled Brazil’s Silva in the boys’ 100m on Saturday, clocking a time of 10.36 seconds.
But Silva would even the score when Caesar fought his way to 21.45 seconds, behind the 20.92 seconds Silva ended with. The bronze would go to Chile’s Enzo Faulbaum in a time of 21.55 seconds.
Caesar would return to lead Guyana to another silver in the boys’ 4x100m, which he anchored and battled to bring Guyana out of third place.
The team clocked 41.30 seconds, as the win went once again to Brazil, finishing just a tenth of a second in front.
Archer won silver in the girls’ 800m in 2:19.43s, behind Colombia’s Johana Arrieta Madera who touched the finish line in 2:10.41s. Beckles won his silver in the boys’ javelin throw, clearing 53.41m. Brazil’s Pedro Rodrigues dominated the event with a 69.71m throw. Roberts was second in the boys’ decathlon, behind Peru’s Ignacio Sanchez.
There were also several bronze medals for Guyana, with Chantoba Bright in the girls’ triple jump (12.19m), Kenisha Phillips in the girls’ 200m (24.26s), Terrence Fraser in the boys’ 400m hurdles (58.07s), Daniel Williams in the high jump (1.90m), and the girls’ 4x100m team.