Jonel Lacey helps secure third medal for VI @ Carifta 2015
Anchor leg Jonel Lacey capped off her Carifta Games career in fine fashion on Monday night, helping the VI to snatch the U20 Girls 4x400m Relay silver medal from the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago.
The Virgin Islands (VI) ended the competition with two silver medals and one bronze. Lacey had taken bronze in the 400m Intermediate Hurdles while Trevia Gumbs won Shotput silver on Sunday April 5, 2015.
With Jamaica winning its seventh straight relay of the games, it came down to see who would grab the remaining medals from among the three teams and who would go home without.
The VI trailed the Bahamas as sprinter Taylor Hill ran a strong leg after getting the baton from Tarika Moses and held off the Trinidad and Tobago runner trying to pass at the exchange.
Lacey immediately put the team in third place behind the Bahamas with Trinidad and Tobago challenging. Lacey unleashed a ferocious kick over the last 120m, surging past the Bahamas runner and kept the distance for the silver medal ahead of Trinidad and Tobago, finishing in 3:46.43.
Lakisha Warner was tasked with getting the the team off to a decent start in the first leg.
It was the first time the VI had fielded an U20 Girls 4x400m Relay team since it began participating in the Carifta Games in 1976.
Final day proceedings
The final day began with Tynelle Gumbs in the U20 Girls Javelin Throw with a heave of 37.90m, during the morning session, to finish sixth overall.
She was seventh in the Discus Throw during the evening session with a best effort of 38.86m. Twin sister Trevia finished fifth with a personal best with a heave of 40.18m.
The afternoon didn’t start off well for the VI as U20 Girls 100m Hurdler Deya Erickson lost her balance, clipped the 5th Hurdle and stumbled into the next hurdle to not finish the race.
Moses ran a strong race, her first 800m at a championships level, but finished fourth in 2:14.80
Beyonce DeFreitas, the only 14-year old to make the U18 Girls 200m final, ran a personal best of 24.50 seconds to place fifth, with a +1.5 meters per second tailwind, running from Lane 7. She lowered her best from 24.79 in the prelims.
In the U20 Girls 200m, running from the inside lane, Nelda Huggins had a sixth place finish in 23.92 seconds aided by a +4.3 tailwind.
Triple Jumper Akeem Bradshaw, competing in the U20 Boys division, finished eighth after getting a best measurement of 14.18m.
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14 Responses to “Jonel Lacey helps secure third medal for VI @ Carifta 2015”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OERqOZptGKc
However, to beat the Goliath, it needs to revamp, refocus, reboot and reinvest in its track and field, as well as other sport and recreation, programme. The whole structure of the national track and field programme from planning, programing, budgeting, training, coaching, nutritioning, facility upgrades and enhancements, meets.....etc may need to be evaluated, redesigned and restructured.
Moreover, the BVI, though tiny and the David in the group, cannot and should not be afraid or intimidated by the Goliaths. An example of a David not being intimidated by a Goliath is Jamaica vs. US. The U.S. has a population of ~319M; Jamaica, ~2.8M. Nevertheless, Jamaica has a strong and robust track and field programme and holds it own against the US. It seems as if Jamaica has factory for churning out world class and top performing athletes. Perhaps we need to benchmark Jamaica's track and field programme.
Further, the BVI is small but it should set its goal to go for the gold. It should strive to be the regional track and field gold mine. Let's give Team BVI a warm welcome by celebrating its return from SKN.