Carifta Trials places go up for grabs tomorrow

This weekend will be a very busy one for the country’s under-17 and under-19 athletes with places for the 53rd staging of the Carifta Games up for grabs.

The Carifta Games will be held at the Kirani James Stadium in Grenada over the Easter weekend, while the three-day trial for the Games will begin on Friday inside the National Stadium.

On Friday’s opening day, competition will get under way with the girls’ Under-17 shot put final at 1:30 p.m., with action on the track set to begin at 2 p.m. with the preliminary round of the girls’ under-17 100 metres.

There will be eight field event finals on the opening day, while on the track there will be finals in the 100m and 1500 metres. The first track final will see the under-17 girls battling at 5 p.m. and will feature the Edwin Allen High School duo of Denique Palmer and Aneka Lowe, along with Ashley Shepperd of Holmwood.

The boys’ under-17 1500m final will feature Rikardo Lee and Bevin Davey of Jamaica College, Luke Plummer of Sydney Pagon, and Markland Williams of Denbigh.

Jovi Rose of Holmwood will lead the bid for places in the girls’ under-20 event, with Hydel’s Rihana Morgan, Alexia Palmer of Sydney Pagon and Tabbrell Williams of Alphansus Davis set to be among the starters.

Joel Morgan of Edwin Allen will be the overwhelming favourite in the boys’ under-20 1500m, with his main competition coming from Rasheed Pryce of Jamaica College and Raheem Palmer of Alphansus Davis.

Following preliminary-round action earlier in the day, all 100 metres finals will be contested on the opening day of competition, with the girls’ under-17 scheduled for 5:45 p.m., to be followed by the boys’ under-17, girls’ under-20 and boys’ under-20.

The girls’ under-17 will feature Rihana Scott of Ferncourt, Trecia-Ann Grant of St Jago High and Shayan Smith of St Mary High. Bids for places in the under-20 girls will be spearheaded by defending Carifta Games champion Shanoya Douglas of Holland High.

Set to feature in the boys’ under-20 event are Gary Card of UTech, Malike Nugent of Excelsior, Tyrece Foreman of St George’s College, Sanjay Seymore of William Knibb, and Nyrone Wade of Kingston College.

Friday’s opening day will also have preliminary-round action in the 400 metres, starting at 3:30 p.m. with the girls’ under-17s. The finals are slated for Saturday.