CARIFTA TRIALS OBSERVATIONS
Every year, the performances at the Carifta trials exceed expectations, and this year was no different. Performances are usually expected to be similar to the top performances we had seen during the season, but what tends to happen at these trials, is that performances are usually of a higher quality and a lot of PB’s are set by the athletes.
But even the most optimistic track fans would be pleasantly shocked by the performances at the Carifta trials. Even with the less than ideal conditions (negative wind in almost all the sprints, Lyston’s 200m being the exception), the performances were not only way better than the previous seasons best, but in a number of cases, rivaled the all-time bests for junior Jamaican athletes.

ALL-TIME PERFORMANCES
Brianna Lyston (Hydel – 200m)
We did not see a matchup between Brianna Lyston and the Edwin Allen twins at the Carifta trials, but Lyston’s 22.66 was the fastest junior run ever over 200m on Jamaican soil, obliterating Simone Facey’s 22.71 and Kevona Davis 22.72 performances. So Brianna Williams gold medal run (22.50) at the 2008 world juniors in Tampere Finland is still the Jamaican junior record over this distance. Lyston’s performance tells us, that she will be the one to beat in the class I girl’s championship 200m and she could also be favored to take the 100m title.

Jaydon Hibbert (Kingston College-Triple Jump)
As a class II (16 yr. old) athlete, Hibbert won the silver medal at the world junior championships last year, jumping 6.05m, the world’s top performance in the youth (U18) category in 2021. Hibbert is now a class I athlete but still under 18. His eye popping 16.56m performance at the trials is a Jamaican youth record and places him 7th all-time on the IAAF world youth triple jump list. Hibbert’s 16.56m jump also places him second all-time on the Jamaican junior (U20) list, second only to James Beckford who jumped 17.29 in 1994. Hibbert will be a junior for the next three years, and it will certainly be exciting to watch his progression as a junior athlete.

Jvoughn Blake (Jamaica College – 800m)
Blake’s 1:47.64 performance ranks him number one on Jamaica’s all time junior 800m list, if one ignores Neville Myton’s 1:46.6 hand time run in 1964. Blake is the Jamaica College’s team captain and his performances this year have been just outstanding. He split 1:49 this year on his school’s record breaking 4 X 800M team at the Gibson relays, and expectations were high that he would challenge the boy’s champs record. Last year he placed third at champs, running a 1:48.86 PB, but this 1:47.64performances now has him as a firm favorite to break the champs record of 1:48.58 set by Edwin Allen’s Chevonne Hall last year.

Rayon Campbell (Kingston College – 400m Hurdles)
In an epic battle between two stalwarts, Rayon Campbell of Kingston College defeated pre-race favorite Roshawn Clarke of Camperdown in the 400M hurdles final. Campbell’s 49.52 run places him second on the Jamaican all-time 400m hurdles list behind Jaheel Hyde’s 48.81, while Clarke’s 49.85 run places him 4th on the all-time list (Devontie Archer – 49.78, being third). This is the first time, that two Jamaican junior 400m hurdlers have run sub 50 seconds in the same race.

Girls 100m Sprint hurdles
This race might not have produced a top three junior time, on the Jamaican all-time list, but in an event where Jamaican sprint hurdlers like Brittany Anderson, Ackera Nugent, Gillian Russell and Rushelle Burton have all won gold or silver medals at world juniors, it was quite amazing to see what happened at the trials. Petersfield’s Alexis James (13.16) and the Hydel pair of Oneka Wilson (13.22) and Kerrica Hill (13.23) ran one of the most exciting sprint hurdling races we have seen at the trials. To put this in perspective, even though Kerrica Hill’s 13.23 second run placed her third in the event, that time would have won the silver medal behind Ackera Nugent’s gold at last year’s world juniors. That run now places those three girls 9, 11 and 12th on the Jamaican junior all-time sprint hurdling list.

Edwin Allen female sprinters.
Although the 100m for U20 girls did not include Brianna Lyston, it included all four girls who made up the record breaking sprint relay team that won the U20 event last year in Kenya. The Edwin Allen trio of Serena Cole and the Clayton twins (Tia and Tina) as well as Kericca Hill of Hydel were the top athletes in the field. The negative wind (-1.50w) prevented these world class junior athletes from running great times, but after An epic battle, the Edwin Allen trio of Tia Clayton, Tina Clayton and Serena Cole, finished in that order.
In the U17 race, last year’s class IV sprint double champion Theanna Lee Terrelonge of Edwin Allen won the event, completing Edwin Allen’s dominance in the 100m sprints.

NON TRADITIONAL SCHOOLS (great day on the track)

Herbert Morrison Tech – Deandre Daley (U20 100m)
This promising Herbert Morrison sprinter seems to have finally solved his injury problems. Daley has been one of the top male sprinters since his class III days, but always seemed to get injured before or during champs. Last year, in the heats of the class II 100m at the boy’s championships, he ran 10.74, the fastest class II time run in the event. But in the semifinals, he pulled up and did not complete the race. This year, in his first year in class I, he was given little or no chance to do well in the Carifta U20 event, that featured more prominent sprinters like Jamaican junior representatives Bryan Levell (Edwin Allen) and Sandrey Davidson (St Catherine) as well as perennial boy champ’s medalist NKrumie Bouwahjgie (Kingston College). He surprised everyone, when he actually came from behind to win the race in 10.32 (-ve 1.60w), a time that adjusting for wind is approximately 10.21.

But Deandre Daley was not the only athlete from a non-traditional track school to do well at these trials. There were quite a few athletes who made their mark, winning events that were fans expected to be dominated by the traditional schools.

Lacovia High – Sabrina Dockery (U17 200m, 400m)
Class III sensation Sabrina Dockery opted to contest only the 200m, and won in a time of 24.03 (-ve 1.6w), easily defeating 100m champion Terrelonge of Edwin Allen.

Spot valley High – Romario Hines (U17 200m)
Romario Hines of Spot Valley put his school on the map when he won the won the U17 boys 200m in 21.82 (-ve 1.2w). He also placed third in the 100m

Spot Valley High – Deandra Harris (u17 400m Hurdles)
Yes, Spot Valley had another winners at these trials. Class III athlete Deandra Harris was certainly on no one’s radar at these championships. Her PB in this event was 1:07, but on Sunday she showed vast improvement winning the event easily in 1:01

Port Antonio – Ainsley Brown (U17 boys 800m)
Ainsley Brown reminds us that the eastern region is still alive. Brown won the U17 800m, easily defeating the Jamaica College favorites Rashid Pryce and Tyrone Lawson.

Magotty High – Yoshane Bowen (U17 boys 1500m)
Yoshane Bowen ran 4:09, a class II season leading time, to win the Carifta U17 1500m. Again, the Jamaica College pair of Rashid Pryce and Tyrone Lawson were upset, not by an athlete from an eastern school, but this time from a western school.

Ferncourt – Abigail Campbell – (U17 400m)
Abigail Campbell won the class III event last year, and was favored to win at the trials. She did not disappoint and easily won the race.

The performances at these trials are outstanding, but with the central championships and boys and girls championships on the horizon, let us hope that these athletes remain injury free and be ready for champs.

written by Oliver Harris