Shiain Vandenberg powered her way to victory in the U20 100m in a time of 12.08s to become National Junior Champion ahead of Taylor Hill in 12.09s. Jonel Lacey finished third in 12.18s. Photo credit: Charlie E. Jackson/VINO

Beaming smiles as the trio proudly display their medals presented to them by Deborah Benjamin. Photo credit: Charlie E. Jackson/VINO

The girls U17 race was won by Nelda Huggins in 11.90 seconds as she lifted her third U17 Champions title. Photo credit: Charlie E. Jackson/VINO

Having run below par in her previous outings, Vandenberg had been putting in some hard yards in the days leading up to the Championships and it certainly paid off as she raced to victory in a time of 12.08s, inches ahead of long time rival and friend Taylor Hill, who finished second in 12.09s; third was Jonel Lacey in 12.29s.

In the preliminary heat and with the BVIAA utilising a semi final and final format to prepare the runners for competition environment, Vandenberg held of Hill with times of 12.15s and 12.22s respectively. Lacey was again third in 12.29s and Keshema Fleming from St Thomas fourth in 13.31s.

In the Under17 100m, Nelda Huggins claimed her third National Junior Title with a winning time of 11.90 seconds. Tarika Moses came second in 12.34s, rising star, L’Tsha Fahie third in 12.34s and Kala Penn fourth in 12.56s.

Ronique Todman took the top honour in the Boys U17, leading home Kimron Telemaque and Kasim Clarke with his time of 11.49s. The Raw Skillz pairing ran 12.25s and 12.32s respectively.

Ebenezer Joseph won the U20 Boys 100m in a time of 11.44s with Ryan Joseph second in 11.67s.

In the Field Events Tynelle Gumbs lobbed the 600g javelin 35.60m, Kala Penn landed her triple jump at 11.40m, Andre Turnbull leapt 1.75m over the bar, Kevin Vanterpool threw the 800g javelin 46.36m and the Girls Pentathlon started with Ashley Penn and Ashley Marie McCall duking it out.

Preliminaries competition on Saturday, March 9, 2013 will run from 9:45 a.m. to 10:30 including the 200m heats and the Shot Put finals. Finals for the Discus Throw, Long Jump, 200m, 800m and 400m, will begin at 4 p.m.

The U17 Girls 400m final on Saturday evening will determine who gets a spot on the 4x400m relay, which already has three members with times of 55.98s, 56.49s and 56.71s.
This year’s Carifta Games, which began in Barbados in 1972, will be held in Nassau, Bahamas, March 30-April 1, 2013.

The Territory’s athletes won a record five medals last year and 25 medals have been earned in the championships since 1978.