Three more CAC titles for T&T
Emanuel Mayers captured gold for Trinidad and Tobago in the men’s 400 metres hurdles on the third and final day of the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Senior Track and Field Championships, in Morelia, Mexico, yesterday.
Mayers got home in 49.72 seconds, the second fastest time of his career, to claim the top prize, ahead of Bahamian Jeffery Gibson (49.94) and Cuban Amaury Valle (50.02).
Mayers ended his CAC Championship campaign with two gold medals, the 24-year-old athlete teaming up with Renny Quow, Machel Cedenio and 400m champion Jarrin Solomon for top honours in the men’s 4x400m relay.
The T&T quartet returned a time of three minutes, 02.19 seconds, forcing Bahamas (3:02.66) and Dominican Republic (3:02.82) to settle for second and third, respectively.
There was gold too for T&T in the women’s 4x400m relay. Shawna Fermin, Sparkle McKnight, Romona Modeste and Alena Brooks combined for a 3:30.64 clocking--a new national record. The T&T quartet erased a 26-year-old T&T standard from the books, qualifying for the 2013 World Championships in the process.
All four T&T relay teams have now earned selection for the August 10-18 global meet, in Moscow, Russia.
Lalonde Gordon seized silver in the men’s 200m in 20.28 seconds--just two-hundredths of a second slower than the 20.26 personal best he produced in winning the T&T title on June 23.
Antoine Adams, of St Kitts and Nevis, topped the field in 20.13 seconds, while third spot went to Jamaican Jason Livermore (20.29).
Gordon’s T&T teammate, Kyle Greaux finished fifth in 20.58.
Gordon was the fastest man on show in the preliminaries, clocking 20.57 seconds to win heat two. Greaux, meanwhile, topped heat five in 21.11.
Chris Hercules disturbed the sand at 16.00 metres to secure bronze in the men’s triple jump. Another T&T athlete, Kyron Blaise jumped 15.82m to finish fourth. Dominican Republic’s Yordanys Durañona earned the gold medal with a 16.45m effort, while the silver went to Mexico’s Alberto Alvarez (16.39m).
T&T’s Akeem Stewart threw the iron ball 17.12m to finish fourth in the men’s shot put. Ayanna Alexander produced a 5.70m leap for ninth spot in the women’s long jump. Domonique Williams finished 10th in the women’s 800m in 2:17.45. And in the women’s 200m final, Michelle-Lee Ahye was disqualified for a false start. In the qualifying round, the T&T sprinter was second in heat two and fifth overall in 23.77 seconds.
Mayers and the two 4x400m relay teams took T&T’s golden medal haul at the 2013 CAC Senior Championships to five. There were also four silver medals and four bronze medals for the Red, White and Black, for a grand total of 13.
T&T finished third on the medal table, behind Mexico (17 gold, 19 silver, 11 bronze) and Jamaica (11 gold, six silver, four bronze).