Injuries force changes to Jamaica’s Carifta team
THERE HAVE been some adjustments to the list of athletes that will represent the country at this weekend’s, Carifta Games to be held in Williamstad, Curaçao, as following the completion of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships several days ago, some of the athletes who were originally on the list have been replaced due to injuries .
Kingston College’s Jhevaughn Matherson has been the main casualty. Matherson, who captured the boys’ Under-20 100m event at the trials in early March, in an equalling personal best of 10.25 seconds, and who suffered a hamstring injury just after his semifinal in the Class 1 100m at Champs, has been replaced in the 100m by Jamaica College’s Delano Dunkley, who will now team up with Jelani Walker in the blueriband event.
Matherson’s teammate, Wayne Pinnock of Kingston College who was a winner in the boys’ long jump, who also finished second to Calabar High’s DeJour Russell in the boys’ Under-18 110m hurdles, is also out. He will be replaced by his teammate, Terrol Wilson, in the long jump, while Champs Class Two 110m hurdles winner, Jeremy Farr of Wolmer’s Boys’ School, will be the replacement in the 110m hurdles.
Boys’ Under-20 5000m champion Keenan Lawrence of St Jago High will also miss this weekend’s action. No substitution has been made for Lawrence in the event, as the second-place finisher at the trials, Shemar Solomon of St Elizabeth Technical High School, will be the only competitor here for Jamaica.
FEMALE CHANGE
On the female side, Hydel’s Abigail Brooks, who finished second in the girls’ Under-17 400m to Vere Technical’s Sanique Walker, is the only athlete who has been withdrawn due to injury. She has been replaced by St Jago High’s Kimara Francis. Francis, who failed to advance to the finals at the trials after finishing third in her heat, in 56.99 seconds, showed rapid improvement to surprise Walker in the Class Two event at Champs, to win the event in a personal best of 54.11 seconds and will team up with Walker.
Also, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association has made an addition of two athletes to their original squad, as 84 will now compete for Jamaica. Heptathlon winner, Peter-Gay McKenzie of Edwin Allen High, and decathlon winner Donovan Thames of Kingston College have been drafted into the team to do the multiple events.
The team will leave the island on Thursday and return on Tuesday.