Barbados starts NACAC with 4 Golds, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze

Barbados has started off with a bang winning four golds, one silver and one bronze medal at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Championships in  Costa Rica yesterday.

Barbados’ Kuron Griffith who has dominated the sprints at home pulled through the middle of the pack to win gold in the 100m Under-23 men’s race in a time of 10.33 secs.

Griffith ran out of lane 4 and had a good start though he was not leading in the early stages. However similar to when he competed at Nationals at the Usain Bolt Complex at UWI, he did not panic and when he completed his drive phase he pulled ahead of the Jamaican sprinter who was on his right shoulder.

Griffith put some daylight between them before they reached the finish line to win the race which was ran off at 5:35 p.m. Barbados time and 3:35 p.m. in Costa Rica.

Second in the race was Jamaica’s Odaine McPherson in 10.39 secs, while Kion Benjamin from Trinidad and Tobago was third in 10.40 secs.

Barbados’ Matthew Clarke finished fourth with a time of 10.55 secs after not getting the best of starts and trailing in the middle phase of the race.

The two Bajan sprinters Kuron Griffith and Matthew Clarke earned their place in the finals of the 100m men’s under-23 after Griffith win his semi-final heat in 10.34 secs and had the leading time heading into the final.

Clarke who ran out lane 7 for the final had earlier placed second in his heat with a time of 10.65 secs, which is the sixth fastest time heading into the final.

Other gold medalist on the day include Jonathan Miller who won the Under-23 men’s triple jump with a leap of 16.0m which was on his  second attempt. Miller’s first attempt would have also earned him gold as he leapt 15.89m.

His teammate Jadon Brome captured the bronze medal with a leap in 15.12m which was registered on his fourth attempt. Second place went to Taeco O’Garro from Antigua and Barbuda.

Nathan Crawford-Wallis captured gold in the Under-20 men’s triple jump with a leap 14.92m, while the second place Elias Ocampo Chinchilla had a leap of 14.05m.

The other gold medal came from Rasheeme Griffith who won the Men’s Under-23 400m hurdles in a time of 52.06 secs, while Nathan Fergusson won the silver in 52.69secs. Third place was Luis Guevara Olivas from Costa Rica who was two seconds behind with 54.78 secs.