Source: www.guardian.co.tt

By Clayton Clarke

T&T’s 65-member national Junior Carifta team departs Piarco tonight for this year’s Carifta Track and Field Championships carded for Montego Bay, Jamaica, this weekend. The contingent is expected to touch down at the Sangsters International Airport in the Jamaican resort city early tomorrow morning.
The 40th edition of the Carifta Games get underway on Saturday and will run until Monday. The young athletes will be looking to surpass last year’s record haul of 40 medals in the Cayman Islands. The team held its final meeting and training session yesterday and National Association for Athletic Administration (NAAA) president Ephraime Serrette is confident that the team will do well. “I think we have a solid team based on the selection and performance at the Carifta trials and even at the Southern Games,” he said. “We have three US-based athletes coming into the squad, hurdler Danielle Davis, sprinter Kai Selvon, who has  already run 23.38, in the 200 metres and high jumper Jeanelle Ovid.”

Serrette added that the team has been in training at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva. “Our throwers and jumpers remained in our national programme since selection. We have mandated all to meet at the Ato Boldon Stadium on Wednesdays where the track athletes have been working on the relays while the others follow the programmes submitted by their club coaches.” Serrette is optimistic that the team can match its 2010 performance and is basing his expectations on the results of trials from the major competing countries including powerhouse Jamaica. The former national sprinter is however concerned about the chances of the Under-20 girls. Serette is hoping the support of the parents and fans, who are travelling to Montego Bay, to motivate the young Soca athletes so they can perform at their best.
He is confident that T&T can continue to make inroads on the Jamaicans, who have been dominating the regional premiere junior meet from its inception 40 years ago. “The Jamaican medal haul has been getting smaller in recent years. With the added support our athletes can win more medals.”