10-gold T&T third on medal table

Machel Cedenio emerged as the star of the show as Trinidad and Tobago captured three gold medals on the third and final day of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Junior Track and Field Championships, in Morelia, Mexico, yesterday.
Cedenio crushed his rivals in the men’s 400 metres event, stopping the clock at 45.28 seconds for a huge margin of victory on silver medallist Twayne Crooks, the Jamaican completing his lap of the track in 46.50. Bronze went to St Kitts and Nevis quartermiler Warren Hazel (46.72).
Cedenio, the 2014 world junior leader at 45.23 seconds, is the favourite for gold at the July 22-27 World Junior Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
Shakeil Waithe is also preparing for the World Juniors meet, and, like Cedenio, warmed up with a comfortable victory on the final day of the CAC Juniors.
Waithe hurled the spear 70.39 metres to strike gold in the boys’ under-20 javelin. Denzel Pratt was a distant second, the Bahamian securing silver with a 66.18m effort. Jamaican Orlando Thomas (63.89m) earned bronze. Waithe is seventh on the 2014 world junior performance list at 72.75m.
The third T&T gold in Morelia yesterday came from the boys’ under-18 4x400m combination of Kobe John, Terry Frederick, Jacob St Clair and Kashief King. The T&T quartet returned a time of three minutes, 13.93 seconds for victory in the event, ahead of Bahamas (3:14.70) and Jamaica (3:16.27).
T&T's Ruebin Walters clocked 13.59 seconds to earn silver in the boys’ under-20 110m hurdles. Jamaican Marvin Williams was golden in 13.52, while bronze went to Puerto Rico’s Ricardo Torres (13.76). Another T&T athlete, Aaron Lewis was fourth in 13.85 seconds.
T&T’s Ian West accumulated 5,888 points to bag bronze in the boys’ under-18 decathlon. Mexican Jafett Juarez earned 5,945 points for gold in the ten-discipline event, while silver was seized by Puerto Rico’s Jose Hernandez (5,912).
Ohdel James, Nathan Farinha, Asa Guevara and Breon Mullings teamed up for bronze in the boys’ under-20 4x400m relay, the T&T quartet producing a 3:13.73 clocking. Jamaica got gold in 3:11.20, forcing Puerto Rico to settle for silver (3:12.10).
T&T finished third on the 2014 CAC Juniors medal table with 10 gold medals, five silver and seven bronze. Mexico were runaway winners with 36 gold medals, 43 silver and 21 bronze, while second spot went to Jamaica with 15 gold medals, 17 silver and 11 bronze.

FINAL MEDAL TABLE

Gold Silver Bronze Total
Mexico 36 43 21 100
Jamaica 15 17 11 43
Trinidad & Tobago 10 5 7 22
Bahamas 7 8 5 20
Puerto Rico 6 5 9 20
Barbados 3 2 3 8
Bermuda 2 0 2 4
Anguilla 2 0 0 2
Suriname 1 1 0 2
Guatemala 1 0 3 4
Grenada 1 0 1 2
Cayman Islands 1 0 0 1
El Salvador 0 3 6 9
Antigua & Barbuda 0 1 1 2
Costa Rica 0 1 1 2
Dominican Republic 0 0 6 6
Guyana 0 0 2 2
Panama 0 0 1 1
St Kitts & Nevis 0 0 1 1