By Dean “The Sportsman” Greenaway.
With no medals in the vault after the first two days of the 51st Carifta Games in St. Georges, Grenada, heading into Monday’s final day, the BVI’s medal hopes rode on the legs of High Jumper Jah’Kyla Morton. That was before Tiondre “Dre” Frett won his U17 Boys 200m Heat in a personal best 22.21 second to make the final on Sunday. On Monday, Frett fought his way to a bronze medal, lowering his personal best to 22.18 seconds and missed silver by .02.
“This means a lot for myself and my country, my coaches and my family, because I didn’t have high hopes that I would come out victorious, but I did,” Frett told Island Sun Sports. “I’m very, very impressed with 22.18, because I never knew I would have gotten so far at a young age, but I did. I felt a bit nervous going into the race, but my coach (Willis Todman) spoke to me and I felt better. But the 200 is my favorite race and you’ve seen it there.”
Frett ran a personal best of 10.88 seconds on Saturday in the 100m final and was sixth, after running 10.92 to advance. “I’m very surprised with the time because I knew I was the youngest in the field and for me to do that, it’s marvelous,” Frett told Island Sun Sports. “I felt pretty good and knew I could have done better, but that will come next year.”
Frett became just the fourth since 1987 advancing to an U17 Boys 100m final and the second along with Jaleel Croal, in a 100/200m final. He also joined Keita Cline as the third 200m medalist.
Meanwhile, Morton—who won U17 Girls High Jump bronze in 2022 and silver in 2023—moved to the U20 division and shared a 5th place finish with a 1.65m (5’5”) leap.
“When I woke up this morning, all the nerves were there, and when I got to the competition, my heart was actually racing throughout the whole competition and I was scared—I’ve never been that scared,” Morton said. “I couldn’t calm down myself and jump to the best of my ability.”
The 4x100m quartet of Mario Carter, Frett, Shamaul Donovan and Jaheem Lennard-Joseph, broke the U18 Boys national record of 42.59 seconds established at last year’s Carifta Games in the Bahamas, when they ran 42.47, to finish 4th in the U17 Boys event.
In the U20 Boys 800m, Jonathan Lynch had his second fastest time of the season to place 5th in his heat in 1:56.84.
Mario Carter was 4th in his 200m heat in 22.54 seconds and 5th in the 100m in 11.39. In the U20 Boys race, J’Den Jackson was timedin a non-advancing 11.31 seconds.
M’Kenzii Crabbe missed a spot on the U17 Girls 100m final by .09 seconds, when she ran a personal best of 12.40 seconds, the 9th best time. She was 4th in her 200m in 25.44. In the U20 Girls, Jordanne Thomas ran a personal best of 12.30/24.87 seconds in the 100/200m. Amia Todman ran 12.52. Jahtivya Williams was 8th in the 200m with 25.45.
M’Korri Crabbe finished 5th in his U20 Boys 400m Heat in 49.38 seconds. The U17 Girls 4x100m relay quartet was disqualified and the U20 Girls did not finish.
Field Events
Romeena Davis was 4th in the U17 Girls Shot Put with a 12:24m (40’2”) heave. Jamelia Chambers had a 5th placed finish in the U17 Girls High Jump, with a leap of 1.55m (5’1’), while Deniel Clarke placed 9th with 1.50m (4’11”). Shyra Stoutt settled for a 5.14m (16’10¼”) Long Jump leap, after fouling her first two attempts.
Savianna Joseph was 5th in the Shot Put with a heave of 12.24m (40’2’) and 9th in the U20 Girls Discus Throw with 36.30m (119’1”). Palesa Caesar, coming off a personal best of 43.84m (143’10”) to place 6th in the Discus, was 8th in the Shot with 10.04m (32’11¼”).
Andre Smikle had 6th place finishes in both the U20 Boys Discus Throw, with a personal best 47.73m (156’7”) and 14.19m (46’6¾”) in the Shot Put.
A’sia McMaster had a leap of 5.36m (17’7”) and was 12th in the U20 Girls Long Jump.
Jabari Pemberton moved from 14th to 12th in the Boys Octathlonwith 4,300 points, after a 5:08.61 seconds 1500m.
