Another 'double gold' for V.I.'s Smith at CARIFTA meet
Source: The Virgin Islands Daily News
ST. GEORGES, Grenada -- St. Croix's Michelle Smith added to the Virgin Islands' medal haul at the 51st CARIFTA Track and Field Championships with another gold medal "double" Monday night.
The 17-year-old Smith, a senior at Montverde (Fla.) Academy and University of Georgia signee, shattered her own U.S. Virgin Islands age-group record to defend her title in the under-20 girls 800-meter run.
Meanwhile, two other Virgin Islanders also medaled during the final day of competition at the CARIFTA Championships, with USVI hurdler Sofia Swindell earning a bronze medal in the under-20 girls 100-meter hurdles, and British Virgin Islands sprinter Tiondre Frett doing the same in the under-17 boys 200-meter dash.
Smith, who was seeded fourth after the heat races, picked off the leaders with about 300 meters to go, and went on to win in a USVI record 2 minutes, 6.18 seconds.
Haiti's Victori Guerrier earned the silver medal, edging out bronze medalist Monique Stewart of Jamaica by just over a tenth of a second. Guerrier finished the final in 2:07.45, while Stewart crossed the line in 2:07.56
"Basically, the race plan was to run behind everyone in front and then kick at the 300-meter mark," Smith -- who also won the under-20 girls 400-meter hurdles gold on Sunday night -- told The Daily News.
"I felt kinda anxious because I was running in lane three at one point and I was like oh my gosh, what am I doing, and tried to kick from the 350-meter mark, but I started really kicking from the 200 (meters)."
This now gives Smith her third straight "double gold" from the CARIFTA Track and Field Championships. She won both the girls 400-meter hurdles and 800-meter run in the under-17 division in 2022, then stepped up to the under-20 class and won both events last year.
"I get to represent my country and perform well and that means a lot in itself," Smith said. "It lets them see that although you come from a small country, doesn't mean you can't do great things."
Swindell, a junior at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, ran a wind-aided 13.95 seconds in the under-20 girls 100-meter hurdles to earn a bronze medal in a race that had a 2.4 meter-per-second (MPS) tailwind, just over the 2.0 MPS allowable.
"It feels great -- it's my first CARIFTA medal. I'm glad to be here and coming home with hardware," said Swindell, who also finished 11th in the under-20 girls triple jump. "I've had weekends before where it started off rough and I had to turn it around, so this is another one of those weekends. It wasn't a good start, but I knew I had to do what I could to make it a great weekend."
Swindell followed up her bronze medal performance with a fifth-place finish in the under-20 girls 200-meter dash, posting a wind-aided time of 23.91 seconds.
"Overall, I'd say my CARIFTA was a success, obviously not perfect, but I think of last year when I ran 24.68 (seconds) in the 200, so it's really all about progression," Swindell said. "I'm just happy to be getting better."
Before Monday, the BVI's medal hopes rode on the legs of high jumper Jah'Kyla Morton. But Frett won his under-17 boys 200-meter dash heat race in a personal best 22.21 seconds to make Monday's final. The next day, Frett fought his way to a bronze medal, lowering his personal best to 22.18 seconds.
"This means a lot for myself and my country, my coaches and my family, because I didn't have high hopes that I would come out victorious, but I did," Frett told The Daily News.
"I'm very, very impressed with 22.18, because I never knew I would have gotten so far at a young age, but I did. I felt a bit nervous going into the race, but my coach (Willis Todman) spoke to me and I felt better. But the 200 is my favorite race and you've seen it there."
Frett also ran a personal best of 10.88 seconds on Saturday in the under-17 boys 100-meter dash final, good for sixth.
Meanwhile, Morton -- who earned a bronze medal in the under-17 girls high jump in 2022 and a silver medal in 2023 -- moved to the under-20 division and shared a fifth-place finish with a 1.65-meter (5 foot, 5 inch) leap, tying with Barbados' Zakaiya Hunte.
"When I woke up this morning, all the nerves were there, and when I got to the competition, my heart was actually racing throughout the whole competition and I was scared -- I've never been that scared," Morton told The Daily News. "I couldn't calm down myself and jump to the best of my ability."
In the under-20 boys 4x400-meter relay, the USVI's quartet of Jaden Stapleton. Thomas Crickelair, Nathan Langley and Quemane Bell finished fifth in their heat race and 10th overall in 3 minutes, 33.27 seconds.
The BVI's under-17 boys 4x100-meter relay team of Mario Carter, Frett, Shamaul Donovan and Jaheem Lennard-Joseph broke the under-18 boys national record of 42.59 seconds (established at last year's CARIFTA Championships in the Bahamas) when they finished fourth in 42.47 seconds late Sunday night.
The BVI's A'sia McMaster had a leap of 5.36 meters (17 feet, 7 inches) to finish 12th in the under-20 girls long jump, while Andre Smikle was sixth in the under-20 boys shot put at 14.19 meters (46 feet, 6¾ inches).