The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

CHARISMA Taylor, Megan Moss, Serena Brown, Edward Kemp, Kyle Alcine and Benjamin Clarke were among the list of athletes who surpassed the qualifying standards for the CARIFTA Games during the 13th annual Club Monica Athletics Track and Field Classic over the weekend.

The one-day meet at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium went late into the night with the number of participants in the various age groups in the track events.

And while the focus was on the qualifiers for the CARIFTA Games, scheduled for the Easter holiday weekend in Grenada, the fans got a chance to see one of the elite athletes compete in her first meet for the year as she made her return home to train with George Cleare’s High Performance Management Team.

Lanece Clarke, who is preparing to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the 200 and 400 metres, made her season’s debut in the women’s 800 metres. She pulled away from the field on the gun lap and by the time she came off the final bend, she had opened almost a 100-metre lead to take the tape in two minutes and 28.92 seconds.

“It was good to be home and competing in front of the home crowd again,” Clarke said. “I just wanted to use the meet to get in some endurance work to help prepare me for the 200 and 400. I was very pleased with my performance. It shows the work that I’ve put in with coach George Cleare. I’m really looking forward to competing this year.”

Two other elite athletes, who are also preparing for the Olympics, competed in the meet.

Kenya Culmer, competing for Leap of Faith, cleared 1.70 metres or 5-feet, 7-inches to take the women’s high jump. And Tamara Myers, representing Jumpers Inc., soared 13.40m (43-11 3/4) to clinch the women’s triple jump crown.

As for the CARIFTA qualifiers, Club Monica’s Charisma Taylor led the girls’ side when she secured a double dose of victory in the under-18 100m hurdles and triple jump. In the hurdles, her time of 13.80 was well under the qualifying standard of 14.20. In the triple jump, her winning leap of 11.85m (38-10 1/2) was above the mark of 11.80m (38-8 3/4).

Club Monica’s Megan Moss, back in action after she injured her left ankle at the T-Bird Flyers Track Classic where she qualified in the girls under-18 400m, stepped down to the 100m where she posted 12.03 to not only go under her second qualifying time of 12.05, but she ended up running the fastest time of all females in the century. It was the same scenario when she did it in the 400m.

Throwers Inc’s Serena Brown, coming off her BAISS basketball championship victory with the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine senior girls on Thursday at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium, got the qualifying mark in the under-20 discus with her winning heave of 45.42m (149-0) to go over the qualifying mark of 41m 134-6).

She also attempted to qualify in her specialty in the shot put, but her winning toss of 12.62m (41-5) was shy of the qualifying mark of 13m (42-8).

On the boys’ side, Edward Kemp, competing for RC Athletics, did the qualifying mark twice. In the under-18 shot put, he threw 16.23m to go over the standard of 15.25m and in the discus, his toss of 47.18m was well above the mark of 45m. 

Ambassadors’ Kyle Alcine cleared 1.97m (6-5 1/2) in the under-18 high jump to go over the qualifying mark of 1.90m (6-2 3/4). He was joined by Benjamin Clarke of Extreme Athletics, matching the qualifying height of 1.90m (6-2 3/4) in the under-16 high jump.

Clarke was the second competitor in that category to qualify, joining arch-rival Shawn Miller, who qualified outright at the T-Bird Flyers’ meet. The meet featured a number of competitors from New Providence, Andros and Grand Bahama.