Jo­van Rav­el­lo

Se­nior Pro­duc­er/Re­porter

jo­van.rav­el­lo@guardian.co.tt

Ny­la Kerr and Os­hea Cum­mings fin­ished one-two in the Girls un­der-17 1500 me­tres as Trinidad and To­ba­go end­ed day one of the 53rd CARIF­TA Games with 10 medals (2 gold, 4 sil­ver, and 4 bronze) as the cur­tain came down on an ex­cit­ing open­ing stan­za at the Ki­rani James Ath­let­ics Sta­di­um in, St. George’s, Grena­da on Sat­ur­day.

Kerr, at her first games, de­throned her coun­try­woman Cum­mings at the line, fin­ish­ing in 4:43.61 sec­onds. Cum­mings copped sil­ver in 4:44.24. Ja­maica’s Anal­isa Brown was third in 4:46.00.

Af­ter the race 15-year old Kerr em­braced her moth­er who was over­come with emo­tion near the fin­ish line. She said every­thing went as planned for the gold and sil­ver medal­lists.

“I want­ed to ex­e­cute my race to the best of my abil­i­ties,” she said “My mind was ba­si­cal­ly to help my team­mate reach there and if we both could cross the line in first or sec­ond it would’ve been great and the way both of us pushed each oth­er to the end was very good,

we went out, we planned, we talked to god and we did it.”

Sean­nah Par­sons was al­so gold­en in Grena­da as she won the Girls Un­der-20 Triple Jump with her sec­ond at­tempt of six.

That jump of 13.12 put some dis­tance be­tween her and the field; French Guiana’s Leane Al­fred got the clos­est with her fi­nal at­tempt, a dis­tance of 12.91 me­tres.

When T&T host­ed the three-day meet last year, Par­sons fin­ished out­side of the medal spots she was elat­ed to im­prove on the per­for­mance at the last games.

She said, “It feels amaz­ing, it feels un­re­al es­pe­cial­ly cus last year i came sev­enth or six and this year I’m on the podi­um, I just want to thank my coach­es thank you to Team TTO who sup­port­ed me with the largest sup­port­ing group here, it’s just sur­re­al to me.”

Mar­tinique’s Melodie Peux was third with a best jump of 12.57, al­so her sixth.

Else­where in the field, an­oth­er first-timer Tes­si­ca Lau­rence, made his­to­ry when she cap­tured bronze in the Girls Open Pole Vault.

The medal is Trinidad and To­ba­go’s first ever in the event in the games’ 53-year his­to­ry.

Za­yne Mar­tin will al­so re­turn with Boys Triple Jump bronze af­ter book­ing his spot on the podi­um, leap­ing 14.33 me­tres on the last of his six at­tempts in the pit.

Ja­maica com­plet­ed a one-two as Joshua Patrick bagged gold with his first jump of 14.59 me­tres, Tal­shawn Ed­wards’ third a dis­tance of 14.35 me­tres earned him sil­ver.

Af­ter a qui­et morn­ing that brought one bronze, in the Boys Un­der-17 Javelin, the medals kept com­ing in the af­ter­noon ses­sion as Dar­ius Hard­ing took sil­ver in the Boys Un­der-17 1500 me­tres race in 4:00.99, Ja­maica’s Joel Mor­gan won gold in 4:00.96, and Javon Roberts took bronze in 4:00.96.

The sprint con­tin­gent al­so got in on the pre­cious met­al rush to wrap day 1 in St. George’s.

Jay­den Goodridge and Jaquan Dou­glas did the 2-3 for Team TTO.

Goodridge looked a shoo-in for gold right up to the last cou­ple me­tres; how­ev­er, a ham­string pull saw him fall be­hind Ja­maica’s gold medal­list Kai Kel­ly, who won in 10.37 sec­onds.

Goodridge’s time of 10.48 sec­onds was just good enough for sil­ver, Dou­glas held on for third and bronze in 10.67 sec­onds

Ja­maica-based Alexxe Hen­ry took sil­ver in the Girls Un­der-20 100 me­tre fi­nal in 11.39 sec­onds.

The Ed­win Allen stu­dent fin­ished sec­ond to the Ja­maica sprint sen­sa­tion for the sec­ond time in two weeks in a re­peat of the Class 1 Girls Fi­nal re­sult at Ja­maica’s In­ter-Sec­ondary Schools’ Sports As­so­ci­a­tion (IS­SA) Boys and Girls Cham­pi­onships at the Ja­maica Na­tion­al Sta­di­um in Kingston.

Dou­glas won the event in 11.13 sec­onds; her com­pa­tri­ot Na­trece East was third in 11.41.

Tevaughn Stew­art was a bronze medal­list in the Boys Un­der-20 100 me­tres in 10.31 sec­onds. Miles Out­er­bridge ran a new Bermu­da na­tion­al record of 10.21 to top the field by six-hun­dredths of a sec­ond as Ja­maica’s Ny­ron Wade took bronze in 10.27.

Ear­li­er in the day, Javelin throw­er Tan­non Niemey­er be­came Trinidad and To­ba­go’s first medal­list at the Games

Niemey­er threw a new per­son­al best 57.90 me­tres with his fourth ef­fort in the Boys Un­der-17 (700g) Javelin

Grena­da’s De­shawn Smart won gold with a dis­tance of 65.09 me­tres, and Ba­hamas’ Ah­keel Williams sil­ver with a throw of 58.23 me­tres.

Draped in the Trinidad and To­ba­go flag, Niemey­er said he took the pre­dic­tion of an im­proved medal haul at Grena­da 2026 to heart.

“It’s def­i­nite­ly great,” he said post-event. “This year, I know the pres­i­dent want­ed a lot of medals, so I’m hap­py that I’m the first one to get one for them.

“I’m see­ing this team this year, it’s a large team, so I think we’ll be hav­ing a lot of medals this year.”

If day one is any­thing to go by, he may very well be proven right.

T&T’s two gold, five sil­ver, and four bronze sees them sec­ond on the medal ta­ble be­hind Ja­maica with 22, eight of them gold. Guyana is third with five.

Sat­ur­day’s Day 1 RE­SULTS

Boys Un­der-17 100m

1. Kai Kel­ly (Ja­maica) 10.37s

2. Jay­den Goodridge (T&T) 10.48s

3. Jaquan Dou­glas (T&T) 10.67s

Girls Un­der-20 100m

1. Shanoya Dou­glas (Ja­maica) 11.13s

2. Alexxe Hen­ry (T&T) 11.39s

3. Na­trece East (Ja­maica) 11.41s

Boys Un­der-20 100

1. Miles Out­er­bridge (Bermu­da) 10.21s

2. Ny­ron Wade (Ja­maica) 10.27s

3. Tre­vaughn Stew­art (T&T) 10.31s

Girls Un­der-17 1500

1. Ny­la Kerr (T&T) 4:43.61s

2. Os­hea Cum­mings (T&T) 4:44.24s

3. Anal­isa Brown (Ja­maica) 4:46.00s

Boys Un­der-20 1500

1. Joel Mor­gan (Ja­maica) 4:00.96

2. Dar­ius Hard­ing (T&T)4:00.99

3. Javon Roberts (Guyana) 4:01.42

Girls Un­der-20 Triple Jump

1. Sean­nah Par­sons (T&T) 13.12m

2. Leane Al­fred (French Guiana) 12.91m

3. Melodie Peux (Mar­tinique) 12.57m

Boys Un­der-17 Triple Jump

1. Joshua Patrick (Ja­maica) 14.59m

2. Tal­shawn Ed­wards (Ja­maica) 14.35m

3. Za­yne Mar­tin (T&T) 14.33

Girls Open Pole Vault

3. Tes­si­ca Lau­rence 2.30m