BVI Athletes won Carifta Games medals in the: U17 Girls 100, 800 and 4x400m Relay; U20 Girls Shot Put & Javelin Throw and U20 Boys Shot Put and Discus Throw
NASSAU, The Bahamas, April 2—Judine Lacey passed the Bahamas’ U17 Girls 4x400m Relay anchor leg in the last 50m, to give the BVI its fourth silver and record eight overall medal, to close out the 42nd Carifta Games in Nassau, Bahamas on Monday night, solidifying the territory’s historic ties to the archipelago in the championships.
The BVI has won 33 medals in the championships since its first in Nassau in 1978—where 11 of the medals have been won.
Lacey anchored the quartet of Lakeisha “Mimi” Warner, Tarika “Tinker Bell” Moses and Nelda Huggins to a time of 3 minutes, 48.76 seconds—a new National Youth Record—eclipsing the 3:19.19 run during last year’s Leeward Islands Jr. Championships on Tortola.
The day began with Warner earning bronze in the U17 Girls 800m, with a time of 2 minutes, 12.71 seconds, matching the one she earned last year in Bermuda.
Then, after fouling her second attempt, Tynelle Gumbs unleashed a throw of 35.74m (117’3”) to claim U20 Girls Javelin Throw silver.
Eldred Henry—who jumpstarted the medal count on Saturday morning with an U20 Boys Discus Throw bronze, exploded with the Shot Put, heaving the 6K ball out to 18.01m (59’1¼”) a National Jr. Record, eclipsing the 16.99m he used to open the 2013 season.
Huggins narrowly missed a U17 Girls 200m medal by .03 when she ran 24.08 with a +2.1mps tail wind. In the Boys equivalent, Kyron McMaster ran 22.36 aided by a +2.2 mps breeze to finish seventh overall. He became the territory’s first athlete to become a 200/400m finalist.
Tahj Malone was eight in the U17 Boys High Jump, after scaling the bat at 1.85m (6'0 ¾”).
Deya Erickson was sixth in the U17 Girls 100m Hurdles, running into a -3.3 headwind to record a time of 15.80 seconds.
Kala Penn was seventh in the U17 Girls Triple Jump with a leap of 11.36m (37’3¼”).
In all, the BVI athletes competed in 17 finals, recorded 10 personal bests and established two National Jr. Records and one National Youth Record, for its best Carifta Games performance in its history.