T&T sprinters Kion Benjamin, a 4x100 metres relay silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games in England last year, Leah Bertrand and Akilah Lewis stormed into the men’s and women’s 100m final at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Santo Domingo, El Salvador, Monday night after winning the third and final semifinal heat at the Jorge El Magico Gonazlez National Stadium, San Salvador, El Salvador.
Going into the two finals, T&T had 11 medals (four gold, three silver, and four bronze).
In the semifinals contested earlier last night, 22-year-old Olympian Benjamin, who won bronze in the same event at the NACAC Under-23 Championship in 2021, topped heat three in 10.29 seconds out of lane six, while Antigua & Barbuda was second from lane five in 10.31 to seal the second automatic spot in the final while third-placed Christopher Valdez secured third spot in the heat in 10.39 to earn a spot in the final as one of two fastest losers.
In semifinal heat one, T&T’s other entrant, Eric Harrison Jr placed fourth in 10.46, the same time given to third-placed finisher Carlos Palacios of Colombia as both men failed to advance.
Dominican Republic’s Jose Gonzalez won the heat in 10.32 and was joined in the final by Guyana’s Emanuel Archibald who clocked 10.37.
In heat two, the trio of British Virgin Islands’ Rikkoi Brathwaite (10.29), Colombian Ronald Longa (10.37) and Nadale Buntin, the second-fastest loser in 10.38 advanced to the gold medal sprint.
In the women’s 100m semifinal, Bertrand topped the field in the third and final heat in 11.44, ahead of fellow qualifier Cuban Yunisleidy Garcia who finished in 11.57.
In heat one, T&T’s Lewis was fourth in 11.57, to secure her spot as one of the two fastest losers in the eighth and final spot along with third-placed finisher Orangys Jimenez of Mexico who crossed the line in 11.55 while St Lucian Julien Alfred was the fastest of them all in 11.24, with Mexico’s Cecilia Tamaya, second in 11.44.
T&T’s Hezikiel Romeo placed fifth in the men’s shot put final with a best throw of 18.42 metres, with his other attempts being 18.36m, 18.34m, 17.97m, and 18.03m.
Mexican Uziel Munoz won gold with a distance of 20.81 while his countryman grabbed silver with 19.18 and British Virgin Islands Djimon Gumbs, third with 19.00 while Colombian Jhon Zea finished fourth with a throw of 18.64.
Tyra Gittens was in the eight-women field long jump final up to press time.
Olton brace leads Calypso Stickwomen past Puerto Rico
Samantha Olton scored both goals to guide T&T women’s hockey team to a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico in their fifth to eighth semifinal at the Field Hockey Pavillion in Parque del Este in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, yesterday.
Olton scored her goals in the eighth and 20th minutes for T&T to set up a fifth-place playoff with Jamaica on Wednesday from 10.15 am after the latter won 2-0 via a penalty-stroke shootout over Bermuda after a goalless regulation-time draw.
Today, T&T men's hockey team will come against Caribbean rivals Barbados in the first of two men’s main draw semifinals from 12.30 pm while Mexico and Cuba meet from 2.45 pm in the other with the final and third matches set for Thursday.
Archery players ousted in early rounds
In the Men’s Compound round-of-32, T&T’s Jonathan Thomas was ousted by Colombian Jagdeep Singh Mejias 136-149 while in the Women’s Compound round-of-32, Alexi Jaggernauth came up short against Puerto Rican Paola Maria Ramirez, 133-149.
On Sunday, in the Individual Women’s Recurve, Amanda Kendal-Brown was 13th in the qualifiers with a score of 577.7 while Daniel Catariz-Ragbir ended in the 20th spot in the Individual Men’s Recurve qualifiers after he tallied 616 points.
In the Compound Competition ranking round, Thomas was 25th in the men's with a score of 668 and Jaggernauth was 27th in the women’s competition ranking round after she posted a score of 613.
In the Team competitions, the pair of Ragbir and Kendal-Brown placed ninth in the Mixed Recurve with 1,193 points for the ninth spot in qualifying after which they were defeated by US Virgin Islands’ Nicholas D’Amour and Julianne Abernathy 6-2 in sets, with a score of 135-122 in the round-of-16.
In the Mixed Compound Team event, Thomas and Jaggernauth combined for a score of 1,281 for the 12th spot of 13 teams but were then beaten by Guatemalans Maria Zebadua and Julio Barillas 138-156 in their round-of-16 match-up.
Water polo men get back-to-back wins
T&T men’s water polo team made it two wins on the trot to end round-robin Group A play when they outclassed Bahamas 11-7 at the Merliot Aquatic Complex, on Tuesday.
Leading the way for T&T men who ended with a 2-1 pool record for the second spot behind Mexico (3-0) was Christopher Forte with six goals, while Jean-Luc Hinds added a hat-trick, and Dante Drakes-Mc Kell and Yannick Robertson one apiece as they led 3-2, 6-3, 8-6 at the end of each period.
Nicholas Wallace and Joshua Gibson netted twice each for the Bahamians, with Khari Marshall, Aidan Johnson and Matthew Thompson adding the others.
In the quarterfinals on Wednesday, T&T will face the winner of last night’s final round-robin match between winless Venezuela and El Salvador while the loser faces the winner Pool A winner Mexico, and in the other two quarterfinals, the winner of the Cuba/Puerto Rico clash will play Guatemala and the loser will face Bahamas.
On Sunday, the T&T water polo men rebounded from their opening defeat to Mexico 6-30 in Group A, with a narrow 16-14 victory over Guatemala (CCS) led by six goals from Robertson, and a handful from Forte.
The pair of Drakes-Mc Kel and Jonathan Gillette added two goals each while Hinds and Benjamin Chow-Quan chipped in with one each for the winners who led 5-2, 8-5, 13-18 at the end of the first three quarterfinals.
For Guatemala, Francisco Leiva scored five goals, and Diego Garcia registered four times, while Adilsar Rodriguez and Thomas Herrador added two each, and Ruddy Chavez, the other. The Mexicans trashed the Bahamas 27-2, while the latter edged Guatemala 10-9 in the other match on Saturday night
Bahamas downs T&T beach soccer men 6-2
T&T’s beach soccer men were outplayed 6-2 by the Bahamas with Gavin Christie and Lesly St Fleur scoring two goals each for the winners at the Flor Blanca Sports Complex on Sunday night while T&T faces El Salvador last night.
The pair of Julmis brothers, Evelt and Wood were also on target for the Bahamians while Kareem Perry got T&T's first item followed by a late own goal from Bahamian Gary Joseph in their Men’s Pool B curtain-raiser, with El Salvador spanking Venezuela 8-1 in the other pool match.
El Salvador spanked Venezuela 8-1 in their opener on Sunday.
Tough day for chess players
In Chess, Gabriella Johnson was beaten by a 1-0 margin against Costa Rican Tania Hernandez and Mexican Liliana Fuentes in the Women’s Rapid Board while Adaya Johnson also tasted defeats by the same scoreline versus Kristel Diaz and Sandra Guillen.
In the men’s competition, Hayden Lee fell to Luis Quesada 1-0 and Haiti’s Angelo Ettienne, 1-0 as well while Joshua Johnson suffered a 1-0 loss to Cuban Carlos Albornoz but rebounded to beat Haitian Davidson Gabriel, 1-0 as well.
On Tuesday, middle-distance runner, Jereem "The Dream" Richards goes into action in the men’s 400m semifinal along with Ohdel Adolphus James from 10.10 am while in the men’s long jump, Andwuelle Wright will be among the starters in the final at 9 pm, hoping to improve on his bronze medal from five years ago in Colombia.
Christopher Richards is set to tee off in the men’s golf individual stroke play at El Encanto Country Club while the quartet of Gabriella Johnson, Adaya Johnson, Joshua Johnson and Hayden Lee will all be involved in Rapid Board competition.
The badminton pair of Will Lee and Chequeda De Boulet will both be in action as well in their respective singles series.
Lee is carded to meet an unnamed opponent in the men’s round-of-32 from 1.30pm while De Boulet battles Mexico’s Haramara Gaitan in thw women’s round-of-32 one hour later, followed by their mixed doubles last-16 versus Mexicans, Miriam Rodriguez and Luis Montoya from 7.30 pm.
