… Phillips comes back strongly from injury

By Michelangelo Jacobus
CHANTOBA Bright and Toyan Raymond were the first two Guyanese athletes to make the qualifying standards for the CARIFTA Games set for the Bahamas from March 30-April 2.
The two were competing at the first of three CARIFTA Games trials being held by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) at the National Track and Field Centre (NTFC), Leonora.

In the Girls U-20 Long Jump, Chantoba Bright of the Upper Demerara Track Club was by far and away in her own league, jumping 6.04m in the pit to easily pass CARIFTA’s qualifying standard of 5.50m.

Jumping under a steady drizzle, Bright jumped with ease while De Challengers’ Toyan Raymond was second best, jumping 5.75m. Also passing the qualifying standard was Running Braves’ Princess Brown who recorded a best jump of 5.58m.
The only other athlete to make CARIFTA’s qualifying standard on Sunday also came in the jumping pit as Anthony Williams jumped a distance of 7.10m in the Boys U-20 Long Jump event.

Williams who trains with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Athletics Club was ecstatic with his effort; he was also joined by Upper Demerara’s Ronaldo Green who had a best jump of 6.88m. The qualifying standard for the U-20 Boys event is 6.80m.
Also making an appearance at the trials was Kenisha Phillips who has just returned from injury; she ran in the U-20 Girls 100M in which she clocked 12.20s coming in behind Toyan Raymond who had a time of 12.17s. Despite coming off of a lengthy injury spell, Phillips looked impressive and told Chronicle Sport that she was feeling “great coming back on the track”.

She, however, noted that she will be stepping up her game in the two remaining trial meets. The qualifying standard for the Girls U-20 100M stands at 12s flat.
Tyrell Peters emerged the winner of the Boys U-20 100M with 10.89s. However, he remains 0.14s off of the qualifying standard of 10.75s.

Meanwhile, Daniel Williams had a go on the track and trotted over the finish line in the Boys U-20 400M without any real competition, stopping the clock at 49.31s while Brian Romain came in behind with 50.18s.

Williams also told Chronicle Sport that it was a slow time for him and pointed out that he will be going for a faster and better time in the next couple of meets.
In order to qualify for his pet event, Williams has to run at least 48.50s or faster, something that the World U-18 400M Silver Medalist has done on countless occasions.
GDF’s Leslain Baird shattered the National Record for the Javelin throw as he hurled it a whopping 74.71m to break the record that he previously held.

The next CARIFTA Trial meet will be held next Sunday (February 18) at the same venue, as the AAG seeks to gather the best possible team to send to Nassau, Bahamas in March.