MONTEGO BAY, St James — A World championship ‘A’ qualifying standard from shot putter O’Dayne Richards and a first ever men’s high jump gold medal from Darrel Garwood were the highlights of Jamaica’s performances on Sunday’s third and final day of the XXIV Central American and Caribbean Senior track and field championships in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico.
Richards threw a massive personal best 20.97m to win the gold medal and retain his men’s shot put title won two years ago while punching his ticket to the World Championships in Moscow, Russia next month. In the process he also broke the meet record of 20.21m held by Jamaica’s Dorian Scott and set in 2007.His previous personal best was 20.31m set last year and the new mark places him at joint 12th on the IAAF list for this year.Jamaica won a further 10 medals, including five gold to finish with a total of 21, five short of the 26 they won two years ago in Puerto Rico when they topped the medal table.Hosts Mexico this time around topped the table with 47 medals — 17 gold, 19 silver and 11 bronze, followed by Jamaica with 11 gold, six silver and four bronze; Trinidad and Tobago were next with 13 medals — five gold, four silver and four bronze.Meanwhile Garwood became the first Jamaican winner of the men’s high jump and only the third Jamaican man in the 46 years history of the event to medal in the event.He cleared 2.22m, the same as silver medalist Jamal Wilson of the Bahamas to win on the count back while Mexico’s Arturo Abascal was third with 2.10m.Lloyd Scott won silver in 1971 while Trevor Tennant won bronze two years earlier.Natoya Goule the national senior champion, who won a bronze two years ago, led a Jamaican quinella as she won the 800m in 2 minutes 02.02 seconds ahead of teammate Semoya Campbell in 2 minutes 03.08 seconds just edging out Cuba’s Rose Mary Almanza who was third with 2 minutes 03.10 seconds.The order was reversed in the men’s 800m where Cuban Andy Gonzalez won in 1 minute 49.54 seconds ahead of two Jamaicans, Ricardo Cunningham who took silver in 1 minute 49.97 seconds and national champion Jowayne Hibbert third in 1 minute 50.10 seconds.National champion Francine Simpson won the gold in the women’s long jump with 6.49m, the first medal by a Jamaican woman since Elva Goulbourne’s silver in 2005. Bermuda’s Arantxa King took silver with 6.45m while Bianca Stuart of the Bahamas was third with 6.42m.Danielle Dowie running 56.39 seconds won back to back 400m hurdles for Jamaica after Andrea Sutherland won two years ago. She beat Costa Rica’s Sharolyn Scott (57.74 seconds) and Mexico’s Zudikey Rodriguez (58.12 seconds).The veteran Aleen Bailey won a third medal, silver in the women’s 200m for a complete set after winning bronze in the 100m on Friday and gold in the 4x100m relays on Saturday.Bailey clocked 23.08 seconds (-0.6m/s) behind St Vincent’s Kineke Alexander- 23.00 seconds with the Dominican Republic’s Marielys Sanchez third in 23.15 seconds just ahead of Jamaica’s Audra Segree who ran 23.39 seconds.Jason Livermore took bronze in the men’s 200m in 20.29 seconds as St Kitts and Nevis’ Antoine Adams won in 20.13 seconds and Trinidad’s Lalonde Gordon took the silver medal with 20.28 seconds.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserverHOUSE RULES
1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper – email addresses will not be published.
2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.
3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.
4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.
5. Please don’t use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed:mailto:advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.
6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.
7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
comments powered byView the original article here
JA wrap up CAC games with first ever high jump gold
