Jamaica land 85 medals at 44th Carifta Games....The Jamaicans won 41 gold, 25 silver and 19 bronze medals, the 31st straight time they have topped the table and their second best ever haul since the schedule moved to 66 events, and just shy of the record 89 medals won last year in Fort de France, Martinique.

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, April 07, 2015    

Jamaica's junior athletes once again proved they are the kings and queens of the Caribbean with another dominant display at the annual Carifta Games after amassing 85 medals at the 44th staging of the championships which ended at the newly renamed Kim Collins Stadium in Basseterre, St Kitts, yesterday.

JA Winning Team

The Jamaicans won 41 gold, 25 silver and 19 bronze medals, the 31st straight time they have topped the table and their second best ever haul since the schedule moved to 66 events, and just shy of the record 89 medals won last year in Fort de France, Martinique.

The Bahamas finished second on the table with 31 medals, eight gold, 13 silver and 10 bronze; Barbados were next with seven gold, four silver and five bronze; Trinidad and Tobago were fourth with six gold medals, eight silver and eight bronze, while Grenada won a gold, three silver, and four bronze to complete the top five.

Nineteen of the 25 countries that took part won at least one medal, while eight countries won at least a gold medal.

Jaheel Hyde Takes the Win

From Friday's opening session, the Jamaicans took charge and never let go, increasing their dominance with every passing session.

Yesterday, Youth Olympics champion Jaheel Hyde completed his second hurdles double after winning the Under-20 110m hurdles gold medal in a wind-aided 13.36 seconds (3.3m/s) to add to the gold medal he won in the 400m hurdles a day earlier.

Yanique Thompson

Xavier  of The Bahamas was second in 13.51 seconds, just ahead of Seanie Selvin, who took the bronze for Jamaica in 13.57 seconds.

IAAF World Youth champion Yanique Thompson won the girls' Under-20 gold in a wind-aided 13.21 seconds (4.8m/s) leading home teammate Jeanine Williams with 13.40 seconds, while Jeminise Parris of Trinidad and Tobago took the bronze in 13.85 seconds.

Janeek Brown set a new meet record 13.29 seconds (1.2m/s) to win the Under-18 title to break her own record of 13.48 seconds set last year. more