Jamaica end NACAC Champs on a high

Jamaican athletes finished the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association's (NACAC) Under-18 and Under-23 Championships on a high yesterday, as they picked up eight medals on the final day of competition at the Estadio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Jamaica finished with 32 medals overall, which was second behind the United States of America (USA), who topped the meet with 47 medals as Canada, with 28 medals, ended third.

The USA won 23 gold, 16 silver and eight bronze medals; Jamaica 13 gold, 14 silver and five bronze; and Canada 12 gold, 10 silver and six bronze. The teams completing the top five are The Bahamas, with 23 medals overall, seven gold, nine silver, and seven bronze; and Trinidad and Tobago, 23 in total, comprising six gold, seven silver and 10 bronze.

The Jamaicans had five wins yesterday and three second-place finishes.

Edwin Allen High School's Thieanna Lee Terrelonge, Rhianna Phipps and Romaine Beckford picked up individual wins, while both men's teams had wins in the 4x400 metres relay.

Terrelonge, one of three under-18 girls competing for Jamaica at the Championships, with most members being denied visas to Costa Rica, won the girls' 200 metres in 23.53 seconds, for her second win at the meet, after winning the 100 metres on Friday's opening day in 11.41 seconds.

Phipps was the first victorious Jamaican yesterday, as the former Hydel High representative captured the women's under-23 triple jump with a distance of 13.61 metres.

Former Buff Bay High's jumper Beckford, the NCAA Division One Indoor and Outdoor high jump champion, who recently won the national senior title, continued his winning form this season after clearing 2.21 metres in the men's under-23 high jump.

The quartet of Joshua Wint, Daniel Wright, Jabari Matheson and Trevoy Smith captured the under-18 boys' 4x400 metres relay in 3:12.50 minutes before the men's under-23 did likewise in 3:02.44 minutes; through Assinie Wilson, Reheem Hayles, Delano Kennedy and D'Andre Anderson.

Ainsley McGregor, with 21.70 seconds in the under-18 boys' 200 metres and Demar Francis, with 20.67 seconds in the men's under-23 event, along with the under-23 women's 4x400 metres relay with 3:28.50 minutes, picked up silver medals. The members of the women's team were Garriel White, Shaquena Foote, Joanne Reid and Shana Kaye Anderson.