OECS Athletes Shine At CARIFTA Games

by Terry Finisterre The 11-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States garnered a total of 32 medals at the CARIFTA Games, held at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium in St George’s, Grenada, over the Easter weekend, 30 March to 1 April. The region’s junior athletes, aged 19 and under, collected four gold medals, 12 silver, and 16 bronze. Eight OECS countries got medals. As a collective, the OECS would have finished third in the medal standings, behind perennial powerhouses Jamaica and The Bahamas. Leading the way was the home territory, Grenada. As was the case when the Spice Isle last hosted this meet, in 2016, home cooking yielded 13 medals. This time around, though, there was just one gold medal, which went to Chrystophe Calliste in the Under-17 boys triple jump, as his best effort of 14.67m earned him the top spot in that event. Crowd favourite Kemron Mathlyn got silver in the U17 boys 400m, as did D’Angelo Brown in the U20 800m, Timothy Greenidge in U20 boys high jump, Jamaica-based Jaylon Calder (U20 shot put), Rayvohn Telesford (U20 javelin throw), and the quartet of Elisha Williams, Joshiem Sylvester, Cheffonia Houston, and Kemisha Dominique in the mixed 4x400m relay. Sylvester...