BVI names 13 for 44th Carifta Games
Last year a bigger team came home with 5 Medals, but according to the British Virgin Islands Amateur Athletics Association’s (BVIAA) Chief Coach, Dag Samuel, this squad is one of the strongest ever. “Qualifying standards were steep, so we have a smaller team, but their performances dictate that all will be finalists and I expect 8 Medals as long as things go well,” said Samuel.
To ensure that target is reached the BVIAA has also assembled a new look staff with Karene King as Head Coach. “I will bring a new dynamic to the Athletes,” she said. “Being an athlete still myself, I know what they need to [do to] prepare, plan and execute their races. I will be able to help them overcome pre event jitters and make sure they are ready to be successful.”
The bulk of the squad, which doesn’t include any U18 Male athletes for the first time in years, is in the U20 division with 11 athletes, eight of them female. Additionally, 11 of the 13 athletes have recorded a personal best performance this season with eight of the marks being a national record.
U20 Girls: Tarika Moses, 800m, 2:12.46. Tynelle Gumbs, Javelin Throw, Discus Throw and Shot Put: 36.95/42.16/12.98. Trevia Gumbs: Shot Put and Discus Throw 14.59/37.77m. Nelda Huggins, 100/200m: 11.85/24.95 seconds. Taylor Hill, 100/200m: 12.02/24.38 seconds. Jonel Lacey: 400m Hurdles 1:02:61. Deya Erickson: 100m Hurdles, 14.09 seconds. Lakeisha Warner, 400m Hurdles 1:04.71.
U20 Boys: Akeem Bradshaw: Long Jump/Triple Jump: 7.25/14.78m and Kyron McMaster: 400m Hurdles 51.83 seconds.
Four athletes, who have competed at the Carifta Games before, two of them with individual medals, will be debuting in five different events. Moses, a 2013 U17 Girls 400m silver medalist who missed the event last year because of injuries, will contest the 800m. Warner, who won U17 Girls 800m bronze medals in 2012 and 2013 but missed the podium last year, will see action in the 400m Intermediate Hurdles along with Jonel Lacey, who ran the 100, 200m and 300m Hurdles before, but wasn’t on last year’s squad. It also marks the first time that the BVI will field female 400m Hurdlers.
Arianna Hayde, at 15 the team’s youngest member who established a National Jr. Record in making her Heptathlon debut last year, will compete in the Long Jump and Javelin Throw.
An U20 4x100 and 4x400m Relay squad has also been entered for the first time since the territory began participating in the event in 1976. Last year’s squad earned four bronze medals.
BVI Athletics Association General Secretary Delva Thomas will manage the team, which will be coached by Erwin “Reds” Telemaque, Winston Potter, Karene King and Bianca Dougan. Marie Lumley and Christine Jackson will provide medical services.
The 44th annual Carifta Games, which will be held at Silver Jubilee Stadium in the twin islands Federation of St Kitts and Nevis, April 3 to 6, 2015.
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