Rondel Sorillo blitzed to a stunning 20.16 in the men’s half lap, a time only bettered by Ato Boldon (19.77) and Aaron Armstrong (20.08 as an American citizen). Selvon took her first senior national 200m in 23.27. Reigning World Championships bronze medallist Renny Quow shrugged off a belated denial of a bye to take his fifth national 400m title in 45.89. Beyond the 100m and men’s 200m the turn-out of athletes is a cause of concern. The women’s 200m was a straight final with six entrants, two of which were foreign athletes. The women’s one lap could only attract four entrants which included one foreigner.
Jehue Gordon hurdled his way in contention for the World Championships with a season’s best of 48.75 in the men’s 400m hurdles beat three other competitors (including one from Puerto Rico and the other from the US Virgin Islands). Janeil Bellille seemed to have convinced her club-mate Ramona Modeste to enter the women’s 400m hurdles to get some competition. Quincy Wilson was impressive with his national record throw in the men’s discus even though he was the lone competitor. The men’s 800m was a straight finals and there were no more than six entrants in all the other track races. In the 110m hurdles field half of the six man field were non-nationals.
The women’s 800 and 1500m featured two runners. The men’s metric mile-six, 5000m-three, the women’s 4x100m-two (one foreign) and no teams in the 4x400m relays. The field events had similar single-digit numbers. The women’s javelin and shot finals saw the highest turnout-six, while the men’s long jump with three visiting competitors had nine entries in total. There were no entries in the women’s 100m hurdles, high jump and 3,000m events. There has been much talk about the throws and hurdles programmes by the NAAA which president Ephraime Serrette has been praising at every chance he gets. What is happening with the programmes? The figures speak for itself.
The omission of several athletes who have attained qualifying marks needs explanation. Most noticeably is Darryl Brown, the 2003 World Championships 100m runnerup and three-time 4x100m silver medallist. One wonders what was the reason behind his bye-pass.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By Clayton Clarke