Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By: Clayton Clarke
Double Carifta Champion Machel Cedenio will lead an eight member national contingent to the Eighth IAAF World Youth (Under 18) Track and Field Championships in Lille, France, from July 6 to 11.
Cedenio was selected for the Boys 400m. The 15-year-old Southern Academy student is one of two local athletes who are ranked in the top 10 in the world in the team. Cedenio is at 10th in the One Lap Sprint after he clocked 46.96 seconds at the Quantum Classic on May 28 at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella. At this year’s Carifta Games in Jamaica in April the Quantum athlete sped to victory in the Boys Under 17 200m (21.43) and 400m (47.38). In the One Lap race he missed out on Usain Bolt’s record by 0.05 seconds. Kernesha Spann is sixth ranked in the Girls 400m Hurdles after she ran 59.19 seconds to take bronze at the Carifta Games. The St Francois Girls /Neon Trackers athlete won the 2010 Carifta and CAC Junior Girls Under 17 300m Hurdles events and represented T&T at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore last August.
Hezekiel Romeo is one of two field athletes on the team. Romeo will compete in the Boys Under 18 Shot Put, having smashed the national record in the event twice this year. The Memphis athlete first improved on the previous mark by throwing 18.03m and then raised it to 18.87m in taking the National title at last weekend’s Junior Championships. Romeo is the 2010 CAC Junior champion and record holder. Fellow thrower and 2010 Carifta Girls Under 17 Carifta champion Shaunna Downey will compete in the Girls Under 18 Discus.
A notable omission was Double Carifta champion Nicholas Landeau, who was left out of the team despite his 8:47:05 clocking to take the Carifta Boys Under 17 3000m gold. The time was under the World Youth/NAAA standard of 8:50:00. Also failing to make the team were Carifta medallists Theon Lewis and Mark London. Lewis bettered the IAAF/NAAA standard of 48.50 in taking silver in the Carifta Boys Under 17 400m finals in 48.14 seconds and also at last weekend’s Junior Championships, where the Petrotrin Palo Seco athlete was third behind Cedenio and Jereem Richards in 48.30. London took bronze in the Boys Under 20 800m in 1:53:80 and won the Junior title last week in 1:55:78 to go under the IAAF mark of 1:56:00. At the last edition of the World Championships in Italy two years ago, T&T finished 36 on the points table with Toco’s Elton Walcott being the country’s top finisher after placing fourth in the Triple Jump. The team of Jamol James, Moriba Morain, Brandon Benjamin and Deon Lenodore finished fifth in the Medley Relay finals.
FULL TEAM
Name-Club-Event
Shauna Downey-Burnley-Discus
Hezekiel Romeo-Memphis-Shot Put
Chelsa Charles-Petrotrin Palo Seco-100
Onika Murray-Quantum-100
Kernesha Spann-Neon Trackers-400m Hurdles
Reuben Walters-Memphis-110m Hurdles
Jereem Richards-Quantum-200
Machel Cedenio-Quantum-400
Officials
Nadine Hamid-Manager/Coach (Throws)
Trevor James-Coach (Sprints)
Althea Busby-Coach (Sprints)
Brent Elder-Physiotherapist.