T&T's athletes made a huge jump on the medal standings at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games on Thursday night with five medals, inclusive of three gold and two silver in El Salvador.
Jereem Richards, the T&T half-lap and one-lap sprinter was among the gold medal winners, along with the 2012 Olympic Games javelin gold medallist Keshorn Walcott, the members of the 4x100 metres men's relay team, and the members of the 4x100 women's relay team who got a silver in the final.
Richards, entering the final of the 400m sprint on the back of a relatively slow 45.96 seconds which he produced in the semifinal on Tuesday, was in ominous form in Thursday's final. Picking up from a decent start in lane five of the Estadio Nacional Jorge El Mágico González Athletics Stadium, the 2022 World Indoor 400m champion forged ahead of the field midway in the race and opened up a sizeable gap before crossing the finish line easily for the gold in a personal best time of 44.54.
He was followed into the second position by St Lucia's Michael Joseph, producing a time of 44.90 with Martinique's Gilles Biron, the man with the fastest time in the semifinal round, unable to really increase his speed in the final, as he crossed the line at 45.06.
Later in the relays, the country's 4x100m men's quartet of Kion Benjamin, Devin Augustine, Carlon Hosten and Eric Harrison Jr was unstoppable as they crossed the finish line at 38.30, which was not too far off the Games record time of 38.24 seconds that was set by a T&T team back in 2010 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
The Dominican Republic's foursome of Erick Sanchez, Yancarlos Martinez, Christopher Valdez and Jose Gonzalez took the silver medal in 38.61. Venezuela's team of Alexis Nieves, David Vivas, Bryant Alamo and Rafael Vasquez sealed the third-place finish and the resulting bronze medal at 39.13.
Meanwhile, the T&T women's team of Reyare Thomas, Sanaa Frederick, Akilah Lewis and Leah Bertrand made up for their unsuccessful individual events at the tournament by collectively taking the silver medal in the final of the 4x100m relay.
After failed attempts at medals in the 100m (Leah Bertrand and Akilah Lewis) and the 200m (Sanaa Frederick), the runners combined to take the silver medal in a quick 43.43. The race was won by the Cuban foursome of Yarima Garcia, Yunisleidy Garcia, Laura Moreira and Enis Perez who raced to the finish in 43.17.
Earlier, Walcott, in only his second attempt in the men's javelin final, covered a distance of 83.60m to get the better of David Carreon of Mexico (78.03m).
Walcott recently was sixth in the men’s javelin at the Wanda Diamond League in Doha, Qatar, last week at 81.27 metres, but he made amends on Thursday by hurling the spear rod a further two metres, to make up for his first throw at 77.68m as well as his second attempt at 76.90m, after he scratched on the third.
Jamaica's Elvis Graham claimed the bronze medal with a distance of 76.43m which he attained only after his first try.
Cherisse Murray was a fifth-place finish in the women's shot put final on Thursday night. The stocky thrower sent the metal ball a distance of 16.59m, which was on her second throw. This followed unsuccessful attempts of 15.48m, 15.25m, 15.92m and 16.45m which all came nowhere close to the winning throw by Rosa Ramirez of Dominica at 17.89m. Danielle Sloley of Jamaica took the silver medal with a distance of 16.81m, and Cuba's Layselis Jimenez was third (16.79m).
Friday night the action continued with Richards going for another medal in the final of the men's 4x400m.
Richards will team up with an equally talented bunch that comprises Adolphus James, Che Lara, Renny Quow and Machel Cedenio. They will run out of lane five.
Meanwhile, Kelsey Daniel was also expected to contest the men's triple Jump final.
Joshua Johnson cops chess silver
Joshua Johnson shined in his debut at the CAC Games, clinching the silver medal with strategic brilliance in the men’s first rapid board at the Hotel Best Wester Terraza. Cuban Carlos Albornoz won the gold medal while Venezuelan Samid Escalona was the bronze medallist.
Johnson also competed in the men's first blitz board and placed 14th.
In the men's second rapid board, T&T's Hayden Lee finished tied in 14th place with Honduran Alejandro Chincilla and Cyrus Daniela of St Lucia.
Gabriella Johnson competed in the women's rapid board and ended in a four-way tied in ninth position along with Jamaica's Raehanna Brown, Panamanian Lourdes Vasquez and Mary Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic.
She had no better luck in the women's first blitz board, settling for 11th spot tied with Haiti's Rose Berline Seine.
Adaya Johnson was a 16th-place finisher in both the women's second rapid board and the second blitz board competitions.
Women "Spikers" play for seventh spot
The women's team will on Saturday play for seventh spot against Mexico at the Palacio de los Deportes Carlos el Famoso Main Court from 11 am.
This is after they squandered consecutive matches against Cuba on Thursday and Mexico yesterday. In a Group B match on Thursday, the Calypso Spikers went down to their Cuban counterparts in straight sets 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-17), which put them on course for a 5th-8th-place showdown with Mexico.
However, they again struggled to hold their own against a superior Mexico team which cruised to the victory 3-0 (25-15, 25-18,25-22).
Waterpolo men finish fifth
The T&T men's team played to a fifth-place finish overall after a convincing victory over El Salvador 17-12 at the Complejo Acuático Merliot last night.
The battle for fifth and sixth positions came when the men in red, white and black defeated the Centro Caribe Sports 16-8 in a fifth-eighth playoff semifinal, the day before. However, the T&T men had it all to do from the start with both teams deadlocked at 4-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Later, they shook off their competitors to take the advantage 9-5 and the second session, before extending their lead to 14-7 at the close of the third quarter.
T&T then survived a last-ditch effort at a comeback by the El Salvadorians to seal the win at the end 17-12.
Alexander beaten in taekwondo
Dorian Alexander was the lone T&T athlete involved in taekwondo action. He went down to Diego Montufar of the Centro Caribe Sports 2-1 in the round of 16 men's 68kg affair at the Juan Pablo Duarte on Thursday.
Campbell pedals to sixth place
Akil Campbell pedalled his way to the sixth position at Friday's Road Race at Avenida Jerusalem. He was among 46 riders who took the starter's gun, that included compatriot Tariq Woods, but in the end, he returned home three hours, 51 minutes and 13 seconds to the finish line. Woods though, did not finish the race.
That race was won by Orluis Aular of Venezuela (3:51:10) with the pair of Miguel Angel Lopez Moreno (3:51:12) and Dorian Monterroso of the Centro Caribe Sports (3:51:12) taking the other two positions respectively.
And in the women's road race, T&T's Alexi Costa was the 18th rider to have crossed the finish, after riding for two hours, 54 minutes and 09 seconds.
Calypso Girls crush Cayman 90-12
T&T "Calypso Girls" was scheduled to meet Jamaica on Friday night at the Gimnasio Nacional José Adolfo Pineda, to determine the gold medallist in the netball competition. Both teams entered the virtual final unbeaten. This after the "Calypso Girls" claimed its fourth straight win in the six-team competition, whipping the Cayman Islands, 90-12, on Thursday night.
It was youth player Shaniya Morgan leading T&T's shooting with 38 goals from 50 attempts after she replaced goal-shooter Afeisha Noel at halftime. The opening goal-shooter produced 32 goals from 36 tries. Noel partnered with goal-attack Joelisa Cooper who did well to feed her shooter while netting all of her five attempts.
Tiana Dillon came on to replace Cooper in the goal-attack bib and she was good for 15 off 21 in the lopsided match-up.
Earlier, the Jamaican "Sunshine Girls" topped the St Vincent and the Grenadines, 65-40. In the other match of the evening, Barbados sealed a 98-12 win over the Dominican Republic.
