The Tribune

IT is the holiday season and the conclusion of 2024 which means it is just the perfect opportunity to highlight this year’s top junior female athletes across the various sporting disciplines.

The top junior female athletes demonstrated great prowess and potential during the 2024 sports season, signalling a sign of great things to come in 2025 and beyond.

Taysha Stubbs - First Place

Taysha Stubbs, of the Blue Chip Athletics Club, had a remarkable campaign during 2024 in her debut to the under-20 girls’ division. She dominated the age group all season long, highlighted by top tier performances at the 2024 CARIFTA Games, Penn Relays and a first time appearance at the World Athletics Under-20 (U20) Championships in Lima, Peru.

The Queen’s College student turned heads at the 2024 CARIFTA Games in St George’s, Grenada. She pulled off a phenomenal personal best toss of 50.94m to win her first gold medal at the junior regional meet. 

Her winning throw was just a few metres off the CARIFTA Games record of 51.13m in that particular age group. Coming off the heels of a dominant performance in Grenada, Stubbs set her sights on another first place finish, this time at the 128th edition of the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Despite having to brave cold weather conditions, she emerged victorious in the high school girls’ javelin throw event with a gold medal heave of 47.17m on her sixth attempt in the competition. 

Locally, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln commit was a cut above the rest in the under-20 girls’ division. She was successful in securing first place finishes at seven out of eight track and field meets here at home. 

The 16-year-old concluded her 2024 athletics season with a debut at the World Athletics U20 Championships. She went on to finish 11th in Group A and 21st overall at the competition with a toss of 44.28m. Stubbs made a strong name for herself in her first season at the under-20 level and seems to be soaring in the right direction for the future.

Rhanishka Gibbs - Second Place

Bahamian junior swimmer Rhanishka Gibbs had a fantastic season in aquatics. Gibbs played a vital role in helping Team Bahamas to secure their sixth straight CARIFTA Championship, hauling away a total of five medals (two golds, three silvers) at home. 

She earned her two gold medals in the women’s 50m breastroke and women’s 50m butterfly events respectively, 

She swam to a winning time of 32.18 seconds in the women’s 50m breast and a gold medal finish of 28.01 seconds in the 50m fly.

Her silver medal finishes were picked up in the women’s 200m breastroke, women’s 100m breastroke and women’s 50m freestyle events.

Gibbs also represented The Bahamas at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and 2024 World Aquatics Championships (25m) in Hungary, Budapest.

Dior-Rae Scott - Third Place

While Stubbs dominated the under-20 division in her first year, Dior-Rae Scott wrapped up her final year in the under-17 division with a bang.

Scott would not leave the under-17 (U17) division without etching her name in a few record books at the 2024 CARIFTA Games and Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) High School Championships respectively. 

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln commit had an outstanding performance at the 2024 CARIFTA Games, turning in a record-breaking personal best toss of 52.53m for the gold medal. She surpassed the former CARIFTA record of 46.07m which was set by Kamera Strachan in the previous year.

Prior to the CARIFTA Games, Scott had a strong showing at the BAISS Championships while representing St Augustine’s College (SAC). In the under-17 girls’ javelin throw event, she tossed the 500g spear to 49.83m to erase the previous meet record of 42.00m also set by Strachan.

Her throw was listed as the farthest throw by any female in the Caribbean for the javelin 500g in this age group before being replaced by her winning toss at the CARIFTA Games.

Locally, she clinched a number of first place victories at the DTSP Wolf Pack Classic and Road Runners Bahamas Invitational track and field meets. 

Scott also competed at the 128th Penn Relays in the “City of Brotherly Love” where she finished seventh overall in the high school girls’ javelin throw with a toss of 42.19m.

It will be interesting to see the leap the SAC student makes this season as she transitions to the older age group.