By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

A beautiful Saturday at the original Thomas A Robinson Stadium was perfect for the athletes to turn in CARIFTA-qualifying performances at the 2024 Star Performers Track Classic. The second to last track club meet saw numerous athletes achieving the CARIFTA mark in multiple events, first time and repeat qualifiers over the weekend.

TRACK

Keyezra Thomas is a young lady on a mission this track season. Over the weekend, she qualified in the 200 metres and 400m events, making it her third overall. The Speed Begins athlete dipped under the qualifying standard of 24.65 seconds with her time of 24.58 seconds in the under 17 girls 200m.

Additionally, she was in top form in the 400m event, clocking 55.52 seconds besting the qualification standard of 56.35 seconds. Her third first place finish of the day was in the long jump event where she soared to a height 5.21m.

The multi-talented athlete hailing from Grand Bahama was happy to alleviate some of the pressure on her ahead of the CARIFTA Trials.

“It was good. I want to thank God for allowing me to qualify for the races I qualified for today.

“It feels good because the pressure does not have to be on me for when the National Trials come. I just have to place first or second and it is just easier for the athlete,” Thomas said.

Although her list of qualifications is now up to three, she is looking to make her presence felt in the long jump and 100m events as well.

“I want to qualify for it to see my limits. Basically, I already qualified for the 100m but it was wind-aided so they did not take it as a qualifier,” she said.

She added that she can do better in everything and wants to work on her times ahead of the CARIFTA Games.

Carlos Brown Jr, who is no stranger to the CARIFTA Games, has qualified for his last hurrah at the junior regional competition. Brown stopped the clock at 10.72 seconds in the under 20 boys’ 100m prelims. However, in the finals, he shaved off some time to finish in 10.49 seconds under the CARIFTA standard of 10.55 seconds.

Jeremiah Adderley, of DTSP Wolfpack, also attained the standard land- ing right on 10.55 seconds. Placing third in the event was Johathan Harris of Fast Forward.

Brown was thankful to qualify despite it not being a personal best for him.

“I just wanted to get out hard, keep my composure in the race and finish strong. I wanted to PR but I didn’t. I am still thankful that I qualified for CARIFTA,” he said.

The sprint specialist said he is feeling great after putting nagging injuries from last year behind him and wants to slim down as the season moves along.

“The only thing I really need to work on is slimming down a little bit more. I feel really great. I am injury-free now so I just have to thank God,” he said.

Jasmine Thompson, of Roadrunners, came away with a win and was a first time CARIFA qualifier in the under 17 girls’ 400m hurdles. The qualification standard is 1:06.19 and she finished in 1:05.24 to join the list of qualifiers on the track. Yulianis Akompi, of Quick Step Athletics, ran from behind in 1:08.45 and Red-Line’s Syrmiah Crawley ended in third.

Thompson felt good about accomplishing her goal.

“I felt good about it. I did not clip any but I did

stutter step and I will work on that but I am proud of myself overall. It is exciting, that’s what I was going for, so I am proud that I executed it,” she said.

She wants to improve on her technique and work on lowering her time.

Kaily Pratt, of 90 Degrees, cruised into a CARIFTA qualification in the under 20 girls’ 100m hurdles. She ran 14.66 seconds under the qualifying mark of 14.68 seconds in the event. Nia Richards and Kaiya Cambridge were positioned in second and third respectively.

FIELD

The javelin throw event continues to be a must see at the club meets this season. Taysha Stubbs, of Blue Chip Athletics, once again qualified in the under-20 girls’ javelin throw. She pulled off a throw of 41.77m for first place.

Dior-Rae repeated as a qualifier with a toss of 39.89m. Join- ing the list of qualifiers was Noble Prep’s Vanessa Sawyer who also cleared the qualifying standard of 39.75m with her heave of 39.84m.

Cailyn Johnson met the standard in the under 20 girls’ discus throw for the second time and also had a qualifying distance in the shot put event. In the latter, the CARIFTA standard is 12.49m and she earned a distance of 13.05m. Meanwhile, in the discus throw her and fellow teammate Annae Mackey got qualifying distances of 45.00m and 43.40m respectively.

Koi Adderley, who qualified in the high jump, along with Bayli Major, got it done in the under 20 girls’ long jump. The CARIFTA standard is 5.58m. Adderley soared to 5.87m in the event while Major cleared at 5.70m. Lanaisha Lubin placed third.

Paris Rolle, representing Leap of Faith, leaped to a height of 1.63m in the under 17 girls’ high jump, landing her right on the qualifying mark of 1.63m. Her fellow teammate, Anaiah Rolle, was consist- ent once again in the pole vault event. She remained at her personal best mark of 2.70m. For the boys,

Kenny Moxey Jr for the second time went over the qualifying mark of 3.60m with 4.00m in the pole vault event.

Joshua Williams, of Speed Begins, got a height of 6.58m, surpassing the standard of 6.51m on Saturday.

Antone Smith was the lone competitor in the under 20 boys’ triple jump. He qualified with a jump of 14.45m in the event.

Next up will be the Roadrunners track and field meet this Saturday.