CLAY­TON CLARKE

gm­sports@guardian.co.tt

To­ba­go ath­letes used home ad­van­tage to the max­i­mum as they cap­tured three of the four ti­tles at the North­ern Amer­i­can, Cen­tral Amer­i­can and Caribbean (NACAC) Age-Group Tri­als at the Dwight Yorke Sta­di­um in Ba­co­let, To­ba­go on Sat­ur­day (June 3) and Sun­day (June 4).

Dai­ja Reid of Zenith led a To­ba­go sweep in the girls’ Un­der-13 pen­tathlon. Reid won the five-event dis­ci­pline with 2,411 points ahead of the Mer­cury pair of Ryana Roberts (2,126) and Rayneisha An­drews (1,996).

Ker­lon Hen­ry of Rss Phoenix con­tin­ued the To­ba­go dom­i­nance in the boys U-13 pen­tathlon, win­ning with 2,551, nar­row­ly ahead of Ja­fari Wal­dron of Mer­cury (2544) and A’Don Young of Zenith (2,372).

In the girls’ U-15 hep­tathlon, ath­letes from Zenith took all spots on the podi­um as Makay­la Cu­pid (3,418) was first ahead of La’Shiya Big­gart (3,387) and Xa­iah To­bias (3,366).

Michal Paul pre­vent­ed a To­ba­go white­wash as he was vic­to­ri­ous in the boys’ U-15 hep­tathlon with 4,695 points. Aaron Radg­man of Zenith copped the sec­ond spot (4,679) with Omari Browne of Neon Wolves tak­ing third place (4,449).

In the girls’ U-13 pen­tathlon, Reid was ahead at the end of the first day af­ter the com­ple­tion of the 60 me­tres, high jump and ball throw. In the 60m, she was sec­ond quick­est with 8.31 sec­onds. Jael Pe­ters (Burn­ley) was the fastest clock­ing 8.14. In the high jump, Reid fin­ished down in sixth (1.16m) as To­co Ti­tans’ Tahalia Brig­gs topped the field with a clear­ance of 1.34m.

Reid re­bound­ed in the ball throw with the sec­ond-longest ef­fort of 34.49m.

An­oth­er To­co Ti­tan ath­lete, Yanique Stew­art pre­vailed with a best of 41.11m. Stew­art’s suc­cess in the throw should come as no sur­prise as she is the first cousin of 2012 Lon­don Olympic javelin cham­pi­on Keshorn Wal­cott and daugh­ter of two-time Carif­ta girls U-17 javelin cham­pi­on An­na-Lee Wal­cott-Stew­art.

On the sec­ond day, Reid ex­tend­ed her lead by tak­ing the long jump (4.57m). Stew­art was sec­ond (3.83). In the fifth and fi­nal event, the 800m, Reid was third with 2:56.85 as Naque­sha Samel of Rss Phoenix won the two-lap race (2:50.97) from Mer­cury’s Rick­eisha Ram­s­ingh (2:54.54). Stew­art seemed poised to up­set the To­ba­go dom­i­nance but was bat­tling stom­ach from the first day and did not par­tic­i­pate in the fi­nal event.

Reid is the daugh­ter of for­mer na­tion­al ath­letes Kelsey Tou­s­saint-Reid and Dyke Reid.

In the boys U-13 pen­tathlon, Ed­wards was ahead af­ter the com­ple­tion of the first day (60m/ball throw/high jump) with vic­to­ries in the ball throw and high jump. On day two, Hen­ry was sec­ond in the long jump and cap­tured the fi­nal dis­ci­pline (1,000m), end­ing the meet with top-three fin­ish­es in his events.

To­bias, Cu­pid and Big­gart made their in­ten­tions clear in the first event (80m) of the girls’ U-15 hep­tathlon with To­bias quick­est (10.41), Cu­pid sec­ond (10.43) and Big­gart third (10.46).

To­bias won the sec­ond event (long jump) with a dis­tance of 4.80. Big­gart took sec­ond (4.79) and Cu­pid, third (4.60).

In the ball throw, Cu­pid (7.75) was sec­ond with Big­gart (7.46) third and To­bias (6.95), sixth. An­oth­er Zenith com­peti­tor Khe­myah An­des­on took the shot put (7.90). Big­gart’s ef­fort was enough to give her the lead at the end of the first day with Cu­pid and To­bias, next in the stand­ings.

On the sec­ond day, Big­gart soared to a per­son­al best of 1.54m to win the high jump. Tehe­lia Fran­cois (Ma­son Hall Po­lice) was joint sec­ond with Cu­pid and To­bias (1.49m). In the fi­nal event, 1,200m, Big­gart fin­ished down the field in 11th spot as she was in­jured in the high jump. Cu­pid crossed the line in third ahead of To­bias in fourth. The out­come pushed Cu­pid to the ti­tle 31 points ahead of Big­gart.

Paul start­ed slow­ly in the boys’ U-15 hep­tathlon plac­ing fifth in the open­ing event (80m hur­dles) with 10.11 as Tequan John of Burn­ley pre­vailed in 9.85. How­ev­er, Paul showed his class with wins in the shot put (12.19) and long jump (5.58) to move in­to the lead af­ter the first day.

Radg­man cap­tured the 80m hur­dles (12.30) with Brown (12.47) in third and Paul (12.54), in fourth. Paul end­ed in sev­enth in the ball throw (49.90) as Aaron Baird (64.27) pre­vailed over his Zenith club­mate Malique Young (63.66). In the high jump, Paul reg­is­tered his third win with a per­son­al best (pb) of 1.79m. Radg­man (1.70pb) was sec­ond.

In the fi­nal of the sev­en events, 1,200m, Radg­man com­plet­ed the three-lap run in 3:35.13 well ahead of Paul (3:51.16). How­ev­er, Paul took home the crown by 16 points.

The NACAC Age-Group ti­tle is the sec­ond for Paul, the younger broth­er of the 2022/2023 Carif­ta Girls Open hep­tathlon medal­list Gi­an­na Paul, af­ter he se­cured the boys’ U-13 ho­n­ours in 2021.

The top two fin­ish­ers are ex­pect­ed to be se­lect­ed to rep­re­sent T&T at this year’s NACAC Age-Group Cham­pi­onships in San­ti­a­go, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic from Ju­ly 15-16.