GERMAINE MASON, Brigitte Foster and Lorraine Fenton were the best-placed Jamaicans in a poll rating the top athletes for the Central American and the Caribbean Athletics Confederation (CACAC).
The Dominican Republic's Felix Sanchez and Mexico's Ana Guevara snatched the top awards for the second consecutive year in a survey carried out by experts from the region, CMC reported.
High jumper Mason, who performed well last season by breaking the national high jump record three times with a personal best of 2.34 metres, finished in fifth spot with seven points.
Following his impressive gold medal jump at August's Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, Mason finished behind winner Sanchez, who won the 400m hurdles at the World Championships.
Sanchez, who was also crowned Pan American Games 400m hurdles champion, finished with 45 points, this ahead of World 100m champion and CAC Championship gold medallist Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis (36 points).
Third place went to Cuba's triple jumper Yoandri Betanzos (17) who was Pan American champion in Santo Domingo and the silver medallist in Paris. He was followed by Trinidadian Darrel Brown (14), runner-up to Collins in Paris, where he improved the World junior record to 10.01.
Meanwhile, World Championship silver medallists, 100m hurdler Foster (22) and 400m runner Fenton (16) finished third and fourth respectively.
Both athletes, nominees for the 2003 Sportswoman of the Year award, finished behind Guevara who became the first woman to run 400m under 49 seconds since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics final.
Guevara's personal best of 48.89 and World Championship gold medal helped her to 44 points ahead of Cuba's world hammer champion Yipsi Moreno (37).
On the junior's side, Jamaica's sprint sensation Usain Bolt and Anneisha McLaughlin were voted male and female runners-up respectively to Trinidad and Tobago's Darrel Brown and Cuba's Yudelkis Fernandez.
Bolt, who equalled the 200-metre World Junior record with a 20.13-second run at July's Pan American Junior Championships in Barbados ended with 22 points, seven behind Brown.
The Trinidadian had an impressive season, this was ended with a impressive second-place finish at the World Championship in Paris.
Meanwhile, McLaughlin, 17, who also cropped gold at the World Youth Championships in the 200-metre polled 17 points, this was only bettered by Cuba's 18-year-old Fernandez.
The Cuban athlete won the long and triple jump gold medals at the Pan-American Junior Champs in Barbados to finish with 25 points.
