Rhea Hoyte is newest addition to Barbados CARIFTA team

As the race continues for a place on the Barbados CARIFTA team, talented quarter-miler Rhea Hoyte became the newest addition with a  season-best run of 55.43 seconds in the Under-20 Girls 400m.

The 18-year-old Hoyte, who recently gained an athletic scholarship to San Diego State University in California, met the CARIFTA standard of 56.00 seconds. She said her strategy was to go out hard and finish strong during last night’s one-lap final at the National Stadium.

The 2020 CARIFTA Games will be held in Bermuda and after her great performance yesterday, on day two of the Barbados National Junior Championships, Hoyte said, “It feels great. Always good to know your hard work pays off and I am looking forward to PB (personal best) as I go along.”

Before the start of last night’s 400m final, Hoyte had the second-fastest time overall (1:10.29) coming out of the preliminaries behind favourite Sakena Massiah of Elite Distance Programme (58.68).

Hoyte’s fellow Quantum Leap Club teammate and 400m runner Josiah Parris also ran an impressive race of 48.67 seconds blazing out of lane four in the Under-17 Boys Division.

The 14-year-old clocked under the CARIFTA time of 48.90 seconds and after the race described his performance as being “tough” against a quality field.

“The performance was very tough but after I ran last night, I was trying to qualify today because there is only one more 400m to qualify which is the BSSAC (Barbados Secondary School Athletics Championship) zonal final. So, I told myself I just have to try and qualify early before the zone finals,” Parris said.

This is the second event Parris has qualified for having registered 54.48 seconds in the 400m hurdles and surpassed the CARIFTA asking time of 55.50. Mekhi Griffith of Coleridge and Parry also featured in the 400m hurdles and qualified in 54.51 seconds on the opening night of competition Friday.

Layla Haynes of Elite Distance Programme Club did not break her 2018 junior national record of 4:53.20 in the Under-17 Girls 1500m.

But she continues to consistently meet the CARIFTA requirement of 5:02.00 in the Under-17 Girls 1500m. Haynes clocked 4:54.10 yesterday to win the 1500m race (3.75 laps).

Another CARIFTA qualifier was Rowland Kirton-Browne of Rising Stars Club with a 39.52m measurement in the Under-20 Girls javelin throw. The distance to throw was 39.50m for a place on the team and she made the mark.

Two CARIFTA gold medalists, Caleb Massiah and Shanie Hutson missed qualification during their respective events but have another opportunity during the BSSAC zonal meetings.

Hutson of Elite Distance Programme strong-armed 12.89m for a new record in the Under-20 Girls shot put but needed to throw 13.00m for a spot on the team.

Massiah of Quantum Leap landed at 6.71m for a new national record but was four meters off the 6.75m requirement in the Under-17 Boys long jump. That mark by Massiah was also second to 6.73m by Tanner Chayse of Bermuda. Chayse is among several Bermuda athletes in Barbados to gain qualification for a spot on their CARIFTA team.

Ashlee Lowe of Elite Distance Programme also wrote her name in the Under-20 Girls record book with a flash time of 11.98 seconds in the 100m. She eclipsed 12.00 seconds set in 2012 by Akela Jones.

Skye Spencer- Layne dismissed 11.95 seconds belonging to record-holder Samiya Dell who also featured in the Under-15 Girls 75m hurdles. Spencer- Layne clocked 11.64 seconds ahead of 11.82 by silver medalist Dell of Full Flyt Athletics Club.

Twin towers, Tia and Tania Applewhaite of Rising Stars set records in the Under-13 Girls 100m. Tia bolted 13.08 seconds while Tania ran 13.32 seconds, as they both erased the 13.44 set in 2018 by Skye Spencer- Layne.

Tania accounted for the Under-13 Girls 400m record in 1:1.15 ahead of Aniya Nurse of Alleyne School (1:1.87) who also broke the 1:03.10 once held by Chiara Beckles. (ML)