Carifta Games javelin record breaker, Tyrik Horsford, took the spotlight once again at NCG/ National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) National Junior Championships over the weekend after sealing a hat-trick of gold medals in the Under-16 field events.
Horsford, 15, completed the treble with a gold in the Boys U-16 shot put on Sunday after tossing the iron ball 15.31m.
This followed a double he claimed on Saturday, the opening day, with a gold in the discus (54.66m) and another gold in the javelin, during which he hurled the 600g spear 70.43m.
Horsford left Randolph Isaac of Burnley trailing behind for second in both the discus and shot put events, where the latter recorded marks of 48.43 and 15.31m, respectively. Kareem Peters, Horsford's Zenith teammate was the runner-up in the javelin with a 45.35m effort.
Horsford's hat-trick saw him contribute significantly to Zenith's haul of gold medals on the day. Zenith captured a total of 15 gold medals (28 medals), courtesy also of Carifta medallists Asha Hames (Girls U-18) and Vandell Joseph (Boys U-18), both of whom also claimed the javelin titles.
Apart from the 15 gold medals, Zenith also clinched seven silver and six bronze medals, and may have even copped more had it not been for the club's athletes missing on the relay events. They were forced catch earlier flights to Tobago earlier.
Among the other top performers for Zenith and on a whole was Akanni Hislop, the Carifta triple medallist, who won both the Boys' U-18 100m and 200m titles, as he did last year. He dominated both tracks taking the 100m in 10.48 seconds and the 200m in 20.96 seconds.
Similarly, two-time World Juniors finalist Jonathan Farinha of Abilene Wildcats also defended the Boys' U-20 100m and 200m titles, clocking 10.42 and 20.87 seconds, respectively.
The championships was the last opportunty for this country's junior athletes to secure standards set for the World Youth Championships (Under-18) which takes place in Cali, Colombia from July 15-19 and the Pan American Junior Championships (Under-20) set for Edmonton, Canada from July 31 to August 2.
However, securing the standards does not automatically earn an athlete a spot on the national team for either events, nor does the inability to secure the standards rule them out of selection. The NAAA is expected to name int national teams by tomorrow.