Yohan Blake with his Austin Sealy award after been voted the top performer at the 36th Carifta Games, which ended on Monday in Turks and Caicos. - Photo by Anthony Foster

Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

JAMAICAN ATHLETES at the 36th Carifta Games, which ended at the National Stadium in Providenciales, Turks & Caicos on Monday, established eight championship and two national records.

The performances of Yohan Blake, who ran 10.11 to win the boys' Under-20 100m, for which he was given the Austin Sealey Award as the championship's top performer, and Keiron Stewart, who finished second in boys' Under-20 110m hurdles in a new national record of 13.49 seconds, were the highlights of the Carifta Games.

Blake's run bettered the 23-year-old national record of 10.19 seconds and the Carifta Games 10.24, previously held by Trinidad and Tobago's Darrell Brown.

Sprinter Dexter Lee and Kemoy Campbell were double record breakers. ShermaineWilliams, Raymond Brown and the boys' mile relay quartet of Kevin Williams, Riker Hylton, Oshane Berham and Ramone McKenzie, ran 3:07.10.

Sixteen-year-old Ramone McKenzie was also impressive, racing to a 20.58 seconds victory in the Boys' Under-20 200 metre.

Excellent performance

Head coach Edward Hector described the team's performance as excellent.

"The performances were excellent," Hector said. "In most part, it was expected," he said.

Lee won the 200m on Monday in 21.09 - erasing the previous mark of 21.11 held by Usain Bolt and the 100m in 10.34, while Campbell captured the boys' Under-17 3,000m (8:46.49) and 1,500m (4:0.04), beating the marks of 8: 53.42 and 4:00.78 set by T&T's Gavin Nero last year.

Williams won the 110m hurdles in 13.51, while Brown took the shot put with a throw of 18.27m.

Hector said some of the athletes had peak performances and this "was evident by the eight championship and two national records".

"I am well satisfied with the performances and the discipline of the youngsters," Hector said.

He also hailed the hard work of the coaching and management team, along with the athletes' personal coaches who prepared them for this meet.

Salcia Slack (3,553 points) and Andrew Riley (4,601) finished first and second in the girls' pentathlon and boys' heptathlon respectively. Latanya National, who finished third in the heptathlon with 3,305 points, won the discus with a throw of 18.27m.

Jamaica finished the three-day Games with a record 76 medal haul, their 36 gold, 28 silver and 12 bronze placed them ahead of T&T (7G, 14S, 16B); Barbados (7G, 4S, 10B), the Bahamas (7G, 4S, 8B) and Martinique (3G, 4S, 5B).