Jamaica’s women’s 4x100m relay team won the country’s eighth track and field gold medal as the track and field events at the 27th Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games came to a close at the Roberto Melendez Stadium in Barranquilla, Colombia, yesterday.

Jamaica added three more medals, including a silver in the women’s 4x400m relays and a bronze in the men’s 4x100m, to finish with 17 medals, including eight gold, three silver and six bronze.

Four years ago when the championships were held in Mexico, Jamaica won a single bronze medal.

Yesterday, the women’s sprint relay team of Jura Levy, Sherone Simpson, 100m champion Jonielle Smith, and Natasha Morrison clocked 43.41 seconds to take the gold, beating Trinidad and Tobago (43.61s). Dominican Republic placed third with a season’s best 43.68 seconds.

The men’s team of 100m champion Nesta Carter, Romario Williams, Rasheed Dwyer, and Javoy Tucker placed third in 38.79 seconds as Barbados ran a national record 38.41 seconds to grab the gold, just ahead of the Dominican Republic (38.71s).

Jamaica took second in the women’s mile relay final with the team of Derriann Hill, 400m champion Tiffany James, Alesha Kelly and Junelle Bromfield running 3 minutes 30.67 seconds behind winners Cuba who ran a championship record 3:29.48 seconds. They lowered the 3:29.65 seconds set by another Cuban team in the 1998 staging. Colombia finished third in 3:21.61 seconds.

The Jamaica men’s 4x400m team failed to complete the race. Cuba won the gold medal.

Off the track, despite a second personal best in just over a month, Jordan Scott just missed a medal in the men’s triple jump, finishing fourth with an impressive 16.82 (0.4m/s), which is also the University of Virginia school record.

Scott, who won the JAAA National Senior Championships title with a then personal best 16.55m, also represented Jamaica in the IAAF World Cup of Athletics in London, fishing fifth.

Yesterday, his big jump which came in the fifth round, had taken him into third place, but he was passed by Suriname’s Miguel Van Assen, who snatched away the bronze medal with a personal best 16.96 (1.3m/s) of his own.

Cuba’s Cristian Napoles Urria and IAAF World Under-20 champion Jordan Diaz Fortun won the gold and the silver medals, respectively, with 17.34m (1.7m/s) and 17.29m (2.6m/s).

Jamaica’s second representative Odaine Lewis suffered a sprained ankle on his first attempt and, despite taking his other two jumps, could only get 15.34m (2.0m/s) to finish 11th.

Sanniel Atkinson-Grier also just missed a bronze medal as she finished fifth in the women’s high jump with a best clearance of 1.82m and was in third place before failing at 1.84m

St Lucia’s Lavern Spencer won the gold medal with 1.90m.

Orlando Thomas finished 10th in the men’s javelin with a best mark of 67.96m as Trinidad and Tobago’s former Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott won with 84.47m, followed by Grenada’s Anderson Peters-81.80m and Mexico’s David Carreon- 76.27m.

PAUL A REID
Observer writer
reidp@jamaicaobserver.com