Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
Jamaica's Sherene Pinnock (right) and Nickeisha Wilson stand in their lanes prior to the start of the 400m hurdles Under-20 women's final at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Tobago. Pinnock (57.18) won ahead of Wilson (57.38). - Photo by Anthony Foster
BACOLET, Tobago:
THE 2005 Carifta Games is Trinidad & Tobago is over and the Jamaica team is back home with 59 medals.
However, although Jamaica fell far below last year's record medal haul of 79 in Bermuda, head coach Constantine Haughton left the Dwight Yorke Stadium reasonably satisfied on Monday night.
"Given that we came out of our National Championships (Boys' and Girls' Champs) with just less than a week to prepare, and given that we had some last minute injuries to some of our athletes, I guess we could be somewhat reasonably satisfied because these were some of our most renown athletes who got injured," explained head coach Haughton.
He was referring to sprinters Schillonie Calvert and Andre Wellington, along with sprint hurdler Matthew Palmer.
"They (injured athletes) were expected to play critical and pivotal roles," Haughton added.
Continuing, he said: "Initially I thought we came weaker than usual in the Under-17, which we just did not start with many entries ... I don't think we had as many entrants as we had last year."
Jamaica's squad this year had three more athletes than last year, and the allotted number of Under-17's, 30 (15 boys and 15 girls) travelled to the Games.
The coach recognised Theon O'Connor, the Most Outstanding Athlete of the Games, saying:
"Being awarded the Austin Sealy Award is quite an achievement."
IMPROVEMENTS
He also said there were improvements in the middle distance running.
"I thought the middle distance area started to look up somewhat," Haughton said.
There were several outstanding Jamaican performances, O'Connor's record-breaking run in the 800m Under-17 final, the girls' Under-17 sprint relay quartet of Natasha Ruddock, Latoya King, Francine Simpson and Danique Jeffrey which broke the record, the boys' Under-17 4x400m quartet which despite finishing second, behind Trinidad & Tobago, also went below the Games record.
Special mention must also be made of Sherene Pinnock who, running out of lane eight, won the girls' Under-20 400m hurdles in 57.18 to defend her crown.
Nickeisha Wilson (57.38) also ran well to finish second in the one lap obstacle race.
Last year's 100m Under-20 champion Remaldo Rose and Rosemarie White, who leapt 6.26m in the long jump at Champs last week, may have been two of the biggest disappointments. Their failure, however, was a direct result of their injuries.
Rose ran 10.58 for fourth while White, who had a triple jump leap of 12.91m at Champs, was only good enough for fifth with 11.65m in this same event.
It was also disappointing to see dethroned Under-20 boys' 800m champion, Davian Parker, returning home without a medal. He was spiked on the heel by a Trinidadian, forcing him out of the race at the 500m mark.
Phelecia Reynolds, who threw the discus 40.15 at Champs for silver, would have gotten another silver if she had repeated that performance.
This is further proof that athletes generally lower their performances at the Carifta Games, which comes almost a week later than Champs.
