Six medals and two records had at NACAC Championships.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines ended the 2021 NACAC U18 & U23 Championships on a high, collecting six medals, and establishing two national records, in San Jose, Costa Rica, from July 9th to 11th.
Kyle Lawrence opened SVG’s campaign in fine fashion, when he finished 3rd in the U18 Men’s 100m.
He got a good start that narrowly put him ahead of his rivals in the first 40 meters. However, he was passed by the eventual winner Alicke Cranston of Jamaica, and 2nd place finisher Ajani Daley of Anitgua & Barbuda.
Cranston won in 10.42, Daley ran 10.68, and Lawrence finished in 10.71, equaling his personal best.
The medal count went up on Saturday morning, when Handal Roban and Shafiqua Maloney both won their 800m events. In chilli conditions, Shafiqua took to the track first in the U23 women’s race, where she went out to an early lead, in her usual fashion, and never relinquished it. At the 150m mark she opened up her lead to approximately 30 meters, and finished in 2:08.13s.
Then it was the turn of Roban in the U20 men’s run, which was combined with the U23 category. With about 200 meters to go, Handal started putting pressure on the leader of the race from Jamaica, who seemed unable to cope, and eventually dropped out with 100m to go. Handal crossed the line in 1:49.75s, which broke the National U20 Men’s record of 1:49.94s.
The weather got worse, as heavy showers rolled in over the Estadio Nacional after midday on Saturday, and delayed the start of events by about 45 minutes. The wet track, and cold wind were not enough however, to keep Shafiqua Maloney off the podium for the second time for the day. She finished 2nd, behind Jamaica’s Cherokee Young, in the U23 400m. She crossed the line in 52.73, ahead of team mate Tamara Woodley, who was 5th in 56.76s.
Handal Roban continued his medaling ways as well, when he also finished with a silver, in the U20 Men’s 400m, in 48.97.
Sunday morning’s weather was much more conducive to track and field, with clear skies and warm sunshine, and the jumpers took advantage of this. Mikiesha Welcome kept her medal winning streak in Costa Rica alive, when she finished second in the U23 Female Triple Jump, with a distance of 13.16m. She has previously won a bronze at the Pan Am Junior Championships in the same event, also in Costa Rica, in 2019.
Then it was the turn of U18 Male Long Jumper, Uroy Ryan, who decided to raise the bar of the Vincy performance in San Jose, when he not only won the event, but set a new National U20 record, of 7.40m.
This bettered the 7.33m that he had jumped earlier this season.
Still to come on the athletics calendar are the Olympic Games in Tokyo from July 30 to Aug 8, where Shafiqua Maloney will represent athletics, the World Junior Championships in Nairobi Kenya, from August 17th to 22nd, and the Pan Am Junior Championships (Under 20), from October 22-24, in Iquique, Chile
