Sport
Cayman's CARIFTAperformance weak
Government Representativeswelcome back CARIFTA team
The outlook for Cayman's CARIFTA 2001 competitionbrightened under the sunny morning skies in Barbados on the finalday of battle with Cayman placing 14th out of 24 countries representedat the 30th annual Games.
The Cayman Gladiators were being slain byother Caribbean countries athletes in the first two days. It startedwith Calicia Burke led off with a strong showing in the U-20 women'slong jump. She sailed progressively further on each of her jumpsto enter the final with a best mark of 17'7 3/4". Althoughshe was unable to improve on her performance on her three attemptsin the final, she was credited with an overall fifth-place finish. However, Omar Wright, the tall, lanky, soft-spoken warrior broughtCayman through the clutches hitting the 6' 2 3/4 mark earninga bronze medal.
Wright cleared the height without a missright through a personal-best-equaling 6' 2 3/4. With the barbeing raised two inches, his three attempts at the new mark wereunsuccessful, but his very last effort was extremely close.
"It was not the best CARIFTA we'veattended. The team gained valuable experience though," offeredNational Athletic Coach, Kenrick Williams.
Coach Williams went on to explain that mostof the kids were first timers and that in years to come this teamwould be a force to reckon with.
National Youth and Sports Director Mr. CharlesBranche concurred with Coach Williams' assessment saying, "Ibelieve the team did well. Track and Field has its ups and downs.I believe that at the moment we are on a down turned because ofthe age."
Jenna Gaio, Rymeich Rockett, and MatthewThompson were back on the oval to undertake a half lap dash afterhaving made an initial appearance at the 100 metres previously.For the U-17 girl category, Gaio posted a time of 27.89 over the200 metres, while Thompson clocked 23.80 and Rocket 24.75 whentheir turn came up.
For the U-20 boys at 200 metres, RobertIbeh turned in a time of 22.51 with Eric Webster marking up a22.77 performance. Scwannah McCarthy was probably considered Cayman'sbest hope for a medal in the 100 metre hurdles, but it was notto be Schwannah seemed to be in considerable pain, suffering froma stress factor in the hip it was soon discovered.
Ronald Forbes fought back after a slow startin his 100 metre hurdle event to capture fifth in a time of 13.73.in the U-20 boys shot put Chester Hurston pushed the iron ballout 34'11" for a tenth place result with Don Parson one spotback on a put of 33'1/2".