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Cayman’s coach confident on eve of CARIFTA Games

Members of the Cayman Islands 2017 CARIFTA Games team with Sports Minister Osbourne Bodden (left) and Richard Hew of CUC (right).

The Cayman Islands team for the Flow CARIFTA Games in Curacao left home Thursday ahead of the 15-17 track and field championships with the head coach confident in an increase of medals compared to last year.

Kenrick Williams told CaymanSportsBuzz.com ahead of the team’s departure that he expects all of last year’s medalists – Lacee Barnes, Daneliz Thomas, Dominic Dyer, Rasheem Brown and Jamal Walton – to reach the podium once again.

In 2016, Barnes won gold in the U18 girls shot put and silver in the discus. Also with two medals was Dyer with silver and bronze in the U18 3,000m and 1,500m. Aside from Barnes, Thomas was the only other Caymanian to stand atop the podium, winning gold in the U18 javelin. Walton won silver in the U20 400m and Brown got a bronze in the U18 110m hurdles.

Those athletes he expects to replicate or better their 2016 feats, and added “We have Jamal Walton, who is looking really good…I hope he can make the double this year. I’m also seeing Daujaughn Murray looking like a prospect for a medal also.”

Cayman Islands national track and field head coach, Kenrick Williams.

Walton will once again contest the 200m and 400m. Murray, a first-time selection for the CARIFTA Games, will do both events in the U18 category.

Murray is joined by another rookie, 13-year-old long jumper Ashantae Graham, on the 15-athlete team. “Those two newbies are looking really good,” Coach Williams said.

Williams said he and Tyrone Yen, the other coach travelling with the team, have worked closely with the Murray and Graham’s coaches ahead of the trip and will follow their plans for the athletes in Curacao.

“What we have asked of the coaches is to give us a programme that they would like us to work with the athletes, since we haven’t been working with them. We know what to do but we prefer to have the input of their personal coaches, so we will be on the right track with them. Those two newbies are looking really good,” he said.

Williams added that he was delighted that physiotherapist Al Smith is travelling with the team.

“One of the things I am glad about is that we are getting a physio to travel with the team to look at those little nicks and pains that athletes usually travel with.”

“The first timers …along with their coaches…what we have asked of the coaches is to give us a programme that they would like us to work with the athletes, since we haven’t been working with them. We know what to do but we prefer to have the input of their personal coaches, so we will be on the right track with them. Those two newbies are looking really good.”

The 2017 Cayman Islands team:

Lacee Barnes – Under 20 Girls: Shot Put, Discus

Rasheem Brown – Under 18 Boys: 110m hurdles, 4 x 100m relay

Kashief Dawkins – Under 18 Boys: 200m, 4 x 100m relay

Dominic Dyer – Under 20 Boys: 1500m, 5000m

William Edwards – Under 20 Boys: 1500m, 5000m

Louis Gordon –  Under 18 Boys: Long Jump, 4 x 100m relay

Ashantae Graham – Under 18 Girls: Long Jump

Jeavaun Jackson – Under 20 Boys: 400m hurdles

Aijah Lewis – Under 18 Girls: High Jump, Long Jump

Daujaughn Murray – Under 18 Boys: 200m, 400m, 4 x 100m relay

Lamar Reid – Under 18 Boys: Long Jump, Triple Jump, 4 x 100m relay

Daneliz Thomas- Under 20 Girls: Javelin

Jamal Walton – Under 20 Boys: 200m, 400m

Jevon Watler-Christian – Under 18 Boys: High Jump, Long Jump, 4 x 100m relay

Shalysa Wray: Under 20 Girls: 400m

 

CaymanSportsBuzz.com will have regular updates throughout the games.

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