KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) — Jamaica’s CARIFTA Games head coach David Riley said Thursday his team was fully prepared but were bracing for serious challenges during the region’s premier junior track and field showpiece this weekend.

Riley, who described his team as a strong one, was speaking as the contingent left here Thursday for Cayman Islands for the April 3-5 games.

“We are expecting some challenges in the sprint hurdles and 400 hurdles. Some very fast times are coming out of Trinidad and Barbados,” he said, while opting not to identify the athletes.

At last year’s CARIFTA Games in St Lucia, Jamaica’s Keenan Davis won the country’s only sprint hurdles title in the girls’ Under-17 division.

Nikita Tracey, Davis’ teammate at Edwin Allen High, took the Under-20 girls’ 400 metres hurdles event.

He backed his squad, however, to uphold their fine tradition of excelling in the sprint events.

“Our sprint seems to be very decent in terms of competition and we are well on our way to doing well in those areas.”

Over the next few days, he said he expected his charges to better their performances turned in at last weekend’s High School Championships.

“We have a strong team,” he said. “We have a strong team relatively compare to the other teams going into the meet.”