Machel Cedenio surprised himself as well as Jamaican Jevaungh Minzie, to cease the Boys' U-17 200m gold medal in a time of 21.43 at the Caribbean's premier youth track and field competition, the Carifta Games. This was at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall, Jamaica in the final session of the three-day event yesterday. Cedenio had great awareness in the fast-paced race using his instinct to get by Minzie just a few metres from the line. "I wasn't really expecting to come first in this race but since I saw the Jamaican celebrating a little bit early, I put in a little more gear knowing that he was slowing down to celebrate so that is why I was able to cut down the time and recover," said Cedenio, who also ran a personal best. Minzie clocked 21.60 and third place went to Bahamian Delano Davis (21.76). T&T's Jonathon Farinha was fourth in 22.01. It was Cedenio's second gold in the Games after running another personal best, to win the U-17 400m (47.38), two days before. In the Boys' U-20 200m, Moriba Morain was beaten to the line by Turks and Caicos Delano Williams, who won in 21.14. Morain finished in 21.41. Nicholas Landeau's attempt for a third gold medal did not materialise as he pulled up some 200 metres out in the 800m final for boys' under 17.
The injury was not serious according to coach Kenrick Williams following the event. "He ran two huge races and had a bit of soreness in his left calf and that made it difficult for him to complete the event," said Williams. "It's nothing major so he will be fine." Earlier in the Games, Landeau won gold in both the 1,500 and 3,000m events. Landeau captured gold in the Under-17 3,000 metres final, in Sunday's evening session, sprinting the final 100 metres in an attempt to erase the record of eight minutes, 46.49. However, he completed the great run in 8:47.05. Mark London had better luck for T&T in the Boys' U-20 group, bagging the bronze in 1:53.80 behind Antonio Mascoll (1:50.21) of Barbados and Bermudan Shaquille Dill (1:50.90), respectively. T&T also got a bronze medal in the Girls' U-20 race from Dawnell Collymore , who clocked 2:12.79. Her teammate Dominique Williams came in fourth in 2:13.85. Field athletes Shervon Worrell and Kenejah Williams delivered on their promise of taking the top two spots in the Boys Under-17 Discus event in yesterday's morning session.
The Tobagonian duo, who won silver and bronze respectively on Saturday in the Boy's U-17 Shot Put, returned a day later to dominate in the Discus. Worrell grabbed gold with a toss of 46.60 and Williams trailed him with a not too distant 44.80. "I feel more satisfied today that I got the gold medal today than the silver I got yesterday," said the winner. "The coach talked to us last night and told us what was wrong yesterday (Sunday) and we corrected it today and it just turned out for the best." A soft-spoken Williams added that he felt good about his silver medal. On the other end of the field, Akeem Stewart had enough power to ease past teammate Hezekiel Romeo, to claim the third spot in the Boys' U-20 Shot Put. Stewart edged him by a mere .08 metres with a put of 16.86 compared to Romeo's 16.78. Marielle Pierre gave T&T another bronze in the Girls' U-17 Discus Throw, with her best attempt being 34.57m. Britney Bedlow was fifth with 32.79. Jumper Deandra Daniel just missed out on a medal placing fourth in Girls' U-20 High Jump, leaping 1.70m and last year's bronze medallist in the U-20 High Jump, Jeanelle Ovid, was sixth with a 1.65m jump. Ayanna Glasgow had a disappointing show in the Girls' U-17 Triple Jump, placing last with a best try at 10.38. Dannielle Davis made it to the final of the Girls' U-20 110m hurdles but was disqualified. T&T's entrant in the Girls' U-17 100m hurdles, Jeminise Parris, was eliminated in the heats. Her time was 15.33. Atiba Wright, unfortunately, was disqualified in the Boys' U-20 110m hurdles after he false-started.