T&T’s Carif­ta Ath­letes are ready to go as the 2026 Carif­ta Games get go­ing at the Ki­rani James Ath­let­ics Sta­di­um in St George’s, Grena­da, Sat­ur­day (April 4) from 9 am.

First up for Team TTO is Reyann Gra­ham and LaQue­en Welch in the Girls’ High Jump. 2025 Boys’ Un­der-20 cham­pi­on Tyrique Vin­cent al­so be­gins his 10-event pro­gramme at 9.02 am.

Omari Brown, a 110 me­tres and 400m hur­dler, was at the last Carif­ta Games in Grena­da. He says, de­spite a dif­fer­ent pro­gramme, his 2024 ex­pe­ri­ence will come in handy this time around.

“In 2024, that was my first Carif­ta team,” Browne rem­i­nisced. “It took a lot out of me, it was very chal­leng­ing and I didn’t leave with any medals. In 2025, I worked hard­er, got a (Oc­tathlon) gold, and this year I’m try­ing to go forth with the same en­er­gy. I just want to do big things again this year.”

Ja­maica-based Ed­win Allen stu­dent Alexxe Hen­ry al­so re­turns for the 2026 Games in the 100m and 200m events, like Brown, she’s look­ing to cre­ate a bet­ter sto­ry her sec­ond time at Carif­ta in Grena­da.

“My first time ex­pe­ri­ence was a great one, but in my race I did not ex­e­cute as well and did not make it to the (100 me­tre) fi­nal,” she re­mem­bered, “This year I want to ex­e­cute my races all three rounds, prop­er­ly and make it to the fi­nals.”

Last week, Hen­ry fin­ished sec­ond in the Girls U-20 100m in a per­son­al best of 11.21 sec­onds at the IS­SA Boys and Girls Cham­pi­onships at the Ja­maican Na­tion­al Sta­di­um in Kingston. She says her coach’s ad­vice has her bet­ter pre­pared.

Team TTO went through their paces in a fi­nal train­ing ses­sion at the Games venue last evening, with their coach­es look­ing over the fi­nal touch­es.

Sprint and jumps coach Er­ic Mc­Cree gave some in­sight in­to its pur­pose.

“The fi­nal prac­tice ses­sion ba­si­cal­ly is try­ing to keep the ath­lete sharp,” he ex­plained. “Noth­ing much can be achieved in the fi­nal few hours be­fore com­pe­ti­tion, more than you try to get the con­fi­dence all the way up.

“So we bring them here at the last minute, go­ing over their rou­tines, get­ting com­fort­able with the sur­face to clear what­ev­er lit­tle jit­ters and stim­u­late their men­tal ca­pac­i­ty.”

Ear­li­er this week, Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ics Ad­min­is­tra­tions of T&T (NAAATT) pres­i­dent Ephraim Ser­rette pre­dict­ed a five-medal im­prove­ment on the team's 2025 Carif­ta medal haul at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um Games, speak­ing Thurs­day evening in the de­par­ture lounge, team man­ag­er Cuquie Melville con­curred.

"We have a very strong team this year. The ex­pec­ta­tion go­ing in­to Carif­ta2026 is very high. We got 25 medals last year and with the show­ing we have seen this year, we be­lieve we have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to sur­pass that."

T&T Track and Field Sup­port­ers Pub­lic Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer, En­ri­co Came­jo, said it is the group’s largest ever con­tin­gent trav­el­ling with the Carif­ta team, and they will do their best to make the Ki­rani James Ath­let­ics Sta­di­um a home away from home for the young Team TTO.

“We went all out, ded­i­cat­ed our time to make sure these par­tic­u­lar games you’re go­ing to hear us, we have songs for the team, we have flags, we have a colour for every sin­gle day of Carif­ta,” Came­jo boast­ed.

“T&T is go­ing to be rep­re­sent­ed well, and whether gold, sil­ver, or bronze, we are go­ing to sup­port every sin­gle ath­lete there in the Ki­rani James Sta­di­um.”

T&T team

U-17

Girls: Chel­cia Joseph (100m hur­dles, 4x100m), Dai­ja Reid (long jump, 4x100m), Eden Chee-Wah (200m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Jael Pe­ters (100m, 200m, 4x100m), Kean­na Cum­mings (400m, 4x400m), Ke­lis Alexan­der (100m hur­dles, 4x100m), La Queen Welch (High jump, 400m hur­dles, 4x400m), Maki­ah Williams (triple jump), Ny­la Kerr (1,500m, 800m, 4x400m), Os­hea Cum­mings (1,500m, 800m, 4x400m), Reyann Gra­ham (high jump), Soleil Caruth (400m, 4x400m), Xi­ah To­bias (100m, long jump, 4x100m).

Boys: Chasiri Charles (400m, 4x400m, mixed 4x400m), Chris­t­ian Parks (4x100m), Dario Tav­ernier (200m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Ethan May­ers (shot-put, dis­cus), Isa­iah Tees­dale (4x100m), Jaa­fari Shaw (shot-put, dis­cus), Ja­fari Ed­wards (oc­tathlon), Ja­mal Bai­ley (3,000m), Jaquan Dou­glas (100m, 4x100m), Jay­den Goodridge (100m, 200m, 4x100m), J’dani Williams (800m, 1,500m), Jevon Grant (4x100m, mixed 4x400m), Joshua An­drews (pole vault), Julien Chin Lee (400m, 4x400m), Kaden Brath­waite-Adams (4x400m), Lyn­don George (4x400m), Michal Paul (long jump, 4x400m), Mikael Ser­rette (1,500m), Niyelle Al­leyne (oc­tathlon), Tan­non Niemey­er (javelin), Za­yne Mar­tin (triple jump).

U-20

Girls: Alexxe Hen­ry (100m, 4x100m, 4x400m), Aniqah Bai­ley (1,500m, 3000m), Ay­oola Al­fred (4x400m), Durlaina Rouse (400m hur­dles), Imani Mills (100m, 4x100m), Jen­na-Marie Thomas (100m hur­dles, 400m hur­dles, 4x400m), Kaori Rob­ley (hep­tathlon), Kay­la Charles (200m, 400m, 4x400m), Kewes Gomes (100m hur­dles, 4x100m), Kyah Hyson (400m, 4x400m, mixed 4x400m), Noe­mi Theodore (200m, 4x100m), Pey­ton Win­ter (shot put), Sean­nah Par­sons (long jump, triple jump, 4x100m), Shi­an Lewis (800m, mixed 4x400m), Tenique Vin­cent (hep­tathlon), Tes­si­ca Lau­rence (pole vault), Za­da Charles (4x100m, 4x400m, mixed 4x400m).

Boys: Ahriseza Cox (pole vault), Ar­mani Dil­lon (1,500m), Brion Scott (4x400m, mixed 4x400m), Dar­i­on White­man (800m, 4x400m), Dar­ius Hard­ing (1,500m), Daryan Boyce (dis­cus), Ezekiel Williams (javelin), Iman­ni Matthew (long jump), Isa­iah Alder (5,000m), Jay­den Maxwell (triple jump), Je­lany Chinyelu (shot put), Je­re­my Sama­roo (5,000m), Kae­den Her­bert (4x100m), Kaleb Camp­bell (de­cathlon), Ki­ile Alexan­der Reid (800m, 4x400m), Kris­tiano Perez (long jump, triple jump), Lemuel Og­bei­fun (high jump), Makae­lan Woods (400m, 4x400m, 4x100m re­lay pool), Omari Brown (4x100m, 400m hur­dles, 4x400m, 110m hur­dles), Tre­vaughn Stew­art (100m, 4x100m, 200m), Tyrique Vin­cent (110m hur­dles, De­cathlon), Za­c­cheus Charles (4x100m, 200m).

TEAM OF­FI­CIALS

Cuquie Melville (man­ag­er), Davina Wash­ing­ton (as­sis­tant man­ag­er), Michelle Al­leyne-Pen­nie (head coach/jumps coach), Dereem Wills (jumps), Er­ic Mc Cree (sprints/hur­dles), Donelle Stafford (sprints/hur­dles), Shaun Stu­art (sprints/hur­dles), Ken­rick Williams (sprints/hur­dles), Richard Jones (mid­dle/long dis­tance), Ja­son Par­ris (mid­dle/long dis­tance), Na­dine Hamid (throws), 12 Throws Is­mael Lopez Mas­tra­pa (throws), Ar­lon Mor­ri­son (com­bined events), Reynold Porter-Lee (com­bined events), Anyl Gopeesingh (med­ical), An­tho­ny Wal­cott (med­ical), Med­ical Nicole Fuentes Charles (med­ical), Med­ical Ay­o­dele Taffe (med­ical).