A number of national athletes who participated at the recently concluded Carifta Games, including Tobago’s Akanni Hislop, are expected to feature at the National Secondary Schools’ Track and Field Championship, which starts today at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.
It is set to run off at 9 am, both today and tomorrow, the closing day.
The event is being hosted by the Secondary Schools’ Track and Field Association, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT).
Over 400 athletes from eight zones are expected to convene, with the athletes vying for individual accolades as well as glory for their respective districts.
Hislop and Tobago will be seeking to take home the title for the 25th time. Hislop was a standout at the Carifta Games in St Kitts, earning three medals, gold in the Boys’ Under-18 200m, silver in the 100m and another silver with the Boys’ U-18 4x100m relay team that finished second to Jamaica.
Tobago’s athletes will sport the colour green, while last year’s runner-up, North Eastern, will wear gold/purple. Port-of-Spain, the 2014 third-placed finisher wears light blue. The other zones are Victoria (red), South Eastern (yellow/black), St Patrick (royal blue), Caroni (maroon) and St George (orange).
Also carded to feature are Tobago’s standout field athletes, Tyrik Horsford and Andwuelle Wright. Horsford recently brough home the Carifta javelin gold in the Boys’ U-18 (700g) with a 70.83m throw, for a Carifta record in the division, while Wright saw success in the Boys’ U-20 long jump with a 7.44m (+2.1m/s) leap.
This year’s championship will close tomorrow after an intense series of finals.