Vincentian trio to debut at Junior Carifta Games

Mc Kish Compton, Reberto Boyde and Reuberth Boyde will get their first dip of the Caribbean’s premier track and field event – the Junior Carifta Games.{{more}}

The trio are part of a St Vincent and the Grenadines four-member team, which will compete in the 43rd hosting of the event at the Stade Pierre Aliker, April 18 to 21.

Compton will contest the men’s Under-18 100 and 200 metres, while the Boyde twins will be entered in the men’s Under-20 100 and 200 metres.

Whilst the three are debutants, the other making the trip, Brandon Parris, is on his third outing at the games. He was part of the Vincentian outfit which travelled to Jamaica in 2011 and to the Bahamas last year.

Parris will be entered in the 400 and 800 metres men’s Under-20 age category.

All four, though, will be seeking to end the medal drought at the games by St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The last occasion that St Vincent and the Grenadines pouched a medal at the Carifta Track and Field Championships was in 2009 in St Lucia, when Delhonni Samuel Nicol gained silver in the men’s Under-20 5,000 metres.

When the 42nd edition was staged last year, St Vincent and the Grenadines was represented by the female pair of Shaffiqua Maloney and Kerina Hooper, who contested in the Under-17 category.

Both only made it to the first round of the female 400m, clocking 57.50 seconds and 1 minute 02.98 seconds, respectively.

Male representation came through Parris and Kasique Olliver.

Parris achieved a place in the finals of the under-20 men’s 400 and 800m.

He was eighth of the eight finalists in the 400m, with a time of 48.89 seconds.

Parris, though, was the first Vincentian since Esworth Coombs in 1991 to reach the final of this event at the Carifta level.

Coombs’ time then was 52.31 seconds, which put him last in the race.

Parris, last year in the Bahamas, was fifth in the 800m in 1 minute 55.02 seconds, with Olliver, who also made the final, but who had to settle for the last place, in a time of 1 minute 57.12 seconds.

Parris and Olliver were on a quest to break the long-standing Vincentian medal drought in the 800m, which dates back to 1987, when Eversley Linley, now Dr Eversley Linley, did 1 minute 52 seconds, to gain a bronze medal.

Manager/coach is technical director of Team Athletics SVG Chester Morgan. (RT)