The Junior Carifta Trials: Five factors to ponder on

By Treiston Joseph –

The junior Carifta trials held on March 2 and 3 at the Guyana Defence Force ground, Camp Ayanganna, had some brilliant performances that are currently still being registered in the minds of track and field enthusiasts.
There was the case of young Cassey George from Linden that quickly made a name for herself by qualifying for the junior Carifta Games in the Under-17 category.

It was the first track meet of the year that the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) held where athletes got to perform on the track and it was overall above the regular standard for the first meet of the year.
However, with that in mind five things to look at coming from the 2013 junior Carifta trials follow in the upcoming points.
Cassey George’s emergence
She is 14 years old and clocked 4:44.1s in the Under-17 1500m. She has automatically become a gold medal contender at the junior Carifta games in The Bahamas from April and anything less may be a disappointment.
Why such a proclamation? Two-time Under-17 1500m Carifta gold medallist in 2009 and 2010 Jevina Straker did not run the 1500 metres at the 2009 Carifta trials, instead she ran the 400m and the 800m, of which she qualified for the 800m in the 2009. She was entered for both the 800 and 1500m and captured gold in the latter with a time of 4:42.89s, a commendable feat.
Fast forward to 2010 Straker clocked 5:15.2s in the 1500 metres at the Carifta trials held at the Police ground but clocked 4:43.33s at the Carifta Games to take gold.
In 2012 Under-17 1500m bronze medalist Andrea Foster clocked 5:08s to make the Carifta team and clocked 4:57.28s to get the bronze medal.
The pattern seems clear! They excel at the Carifta Games and should George pull off a performance anywhere close to what she had, or better, her chances of landing Guyana a third gold medal at the Carifta Games in five years are very high.
Guyana has found yet another 1500m gem and once her talents are harnessed properly, she can become very dominant at her trade as she gets older.

Rare sprint occurrence
On the final day (day two) of the Carifta trials, Under-17 sprinters Tirana Mitchell and Jason Yaw pulled off a rare occurrence as both clocked 200m times either faster than or equal to their under-20 counterparts.
Mitchell ran 24.5s in the Under-17 200m which qualified her for the Carifta Games. But what was a more telling stat is her under-20 counterpart Tiffany Carto ran the exact time as Mitchell (24.5s).
Yaw, on the other hand, clocked 21.7s in the under-17 200m and qualified for the Carifta Games as well with a time that would have blown away the Under-20 field; the winner Kevin Abbensetts clocked 22.1s to win the Under-20 version.
Such an occurrence holds both promise and fear for the future of sprinting in Guyana since on the one hand you have two relatively young and improving talents, while the other notion outlines the lingering fears that the pool of quality sprinters in Guyana are dwindling.
100m and 200m times should not be taken as gospel
Given the fact that the 100m on the Guyana Defence Force ground, Camp Ayanganna runs north to south and the heavy winds from the closely situated Atlantic Ocean more than likely all 100m times would have been wind aided, hence faster times than usual.

It was at the same ground that Rupert Perry clocked an unbelievably staggering 9.90s seconds last year.
In the 200m races, which start at the north-eastern end of the ground and end where the 100m end, athletes would have some amount of wind assistance as well, once athletes turn for the homestretch.
While this fact is not meant to discredit the efforts of the athletes that participated at the junior Carifta trials, it is a fact that must be pointed out in order for selectors to make better decisions.
Time-keeping seemed accurate
Despite the heavy wind assistance, any time the athletes might have received, seemed fairly accurate as all the athletes were capable of the times they performed on a ground with less wind. Most had been within the range that they recorded at GDF ground.
In essence, kudos to the Athletics Association of Guyana for being more efficient in this regard. Their officials have had their fair share of problems recording some unbelievable times especially in the sprint events. Hopefully, they will continue to get it right this year.
Room for improvement in male middle and long distance running
The middle and long distance events in the male categories (especially the juniors) were below par. Whether it is due to a short offseason or the lack of interest, middle and long distance running in the junior ranks was boring with no male athlete displaying any sort of aggression.
Samuel Kaiton ran the best long distance race of the meet in the male 5000m event where he clocked 17:38.6s.
The shorter versions were even more horrid as none of the athletes especially the under-20 athletes failed to break the two-minute barrier, which under-17 males outside of Guyana comfortably go under.
It is an issue that needs to be addressed by the coaches as these events are not even looked upon by track and field enthusiast with the amount of seriousness as is the case with the sprint events.
Conclusion
The meet was a good first outing for the athletes and hopefully by mid-season better times will be recorded. The AAG also needs to have more meets which would then up the productivity of the athletes.
However, if it is one thing about the 2013 Carifta junior trials, it’s the fact that Guyana has the junior talents to go places.