Improved performances expected in the future

THE second Development Meet of the year for the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) yielded promising results for the junior athletes who participated last Sunday at the Leonora Track and Field Centre. Some 60-odd events were contested, but without heavy participation in a few of the events. The participants were combined for some races and field events, but their progress was recorded accordingly. The sprints got underway early and saw Juvonna Cornette clocking 12.07s in the Girls 17-19 100m to be the fastest junior female at the meet. She was followed by Karese Lloyd and Kyasha Thomas who clocked 12.21s and 14.36s, respectively.
It was a blistering finish in the Boys 17-19 100m dash as D’Quan Williams won with a time of 10.95s and narrowly defeated Wesley Tyndal and Shamar Horatio who ran times of 10.97s and 10.98s, respectively.

In the Boys 14-16 100m, David Higgins won with a time of 11.05s ahead of Shaquan Nelson (11.35s) and Jaheel Cornette (11.64s). In the Girls 14-16 100m, Queiwsha Sealey stormed to victory in a time of 12.71s while Queanna Taylor and Akala Hall were second and third with 12.96s and 13.22s, respectively.
The Men’s 100m saw Emanuel Archibald clock the fastest time of the meet with 10.24s ahead of Nolex Holder (10.39s) and Deron Roberts (10.59s). There were five other sub-11 times for this category. When the Women’s 100m was contested, Cassy Small won in a time of 11.99s which left Ruth Sanmoogan and Shaquan Daniels in second and third with 12.01s and 12.29s. In the Women 200m, Keliza Smith turned in a time of 25.67s for victory while in the Men’s version Akeem Stewart clock the fastest time with 21.36s.

Cornette doubled up on the wins when she clocked 25.62s in the 17-19 200m dash while Lloyd was second with 25.99s and Shantae George, third, with 27.03s.
Higgins became a double winner after securing victory in the Boys 14-16 200m in a time of 22.91s while the same feat was achieved by Williams who won the 17-19 200m in 22.54s. In the 400m Girls 14-16, Charissa December won with a time of 1:00.29s while the Boys 14-16 400m dash was claimed by Omar James who turned in an impressive 51.61s. Joshua Lam then clocked 51.79s in the Boys 17-19 400m dash.
The army men swept the Men’s 400m as Devaughn Barrington ran 49.80s to win against Michael James (49.94s) and Brian Roman (51.09s).

FIELD EVENTS
In the Men’s Javelin Throw, Leslain Baird, even though he sustained an injury, was able to land 75m flush in his first attempt, 10 metres shy of the Olympic Qualifying standard. The Men’s Triple Jump had a best attempt of 14.88m set by Micaiah Washington. If Washington manages to improve his distance, he might just be able to make the qualifying standard which is set at 16.85m. However, the winner of the Boys 17-19 Triple Jump, Trevon Hamer, leaped to 14.79m which is an encouraging sign for the future. Another noteworthy mention would be Cleveland Force who won the Men’s 5000m in a time of 16:39.70s, beating his nearest competitor by almost a minute.

Emanuel Archibald claimed wins in the Men’s 100m and Long Jump on Sunday and narrowly missed the Olympic Qualifying Standards, while Sanmoogan leaped to 6.05m in the Women’s Long Jump. The Women’s Olympic Qualifying Standard is set at 6.82m.
Other field event winners included Zeryssa McRae, Amris Hector, Annalisa Barclay, Sileena Bhola, Victoria Douglas, Keyoka Cort, Ibena Cato, Natrena Hooper, Ameka Eastman, Anisha Gibbons, Jerome King, Dejaun Grant, Wesley Tyndal, Okeno Pascal, Omaley Harry, Shomary Bess, Mikhail Nannan, Mark Jhali, Jevaun Conway, Gabriel Lim and Marissa Patterson.