Junior athletes might not have experienced the same success as seniors in track and field this past season, but a number of them are still highly ranked, and are showing tremendous promise for the future.
Leading the way was Carlos Brown Jr. in the under-18 boys category, who will remarkably still be under-18 next year. The 15-year-old ran against much older opponents this year, particularly at the World Athletics (WA) World Under-20 (U20) Championships that was held last month in Nairobi, Kenya.
Brown is listed at number four in the world in the under-18 boys 200 meters (m) on the World Athletics Top Performance List for 2021. He ran a personal best time of 20.99 seconds, becoming The Bahamas’ third youth athlete (under-18) to ever run under 21 seconds in the 200m.
Brown clocked that personal best time in the opening round heats of the 200m at the world under-20 championships. He went on to run a wind-aided 20.92 seconds in the semis, and failed to advance to the final.
Only three Americans, Erriyon Knighton, Shamali Whittle and Jordan Anthony, are ahead of him on the world’s top performance list for 2021.
In the 100m, Brown is in a four-way tie for eighth with a personal best time of 10.47 seconds which was done in the semifinals of that event in Nairobi. He finished 12th overall, failing to advance to the final.
In the under-20 boys division, Terrence Jones was spectacular in the short sprints – the main highlight of which was a new junior national record of 20.36 seconds that was done for a third place finish in his opening round heat of the 200m at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I West Preliminaries at the E.B. Cushing Stadium, in College Station, Texas. That time erased Steven Gardiner’s junior national record, lowering the record by three tenths of a second.
It also has Jones at number five on the world’s top performance list for 2021.
Also in the top 20 in the junior men’s 200m is Wendell Miller who ran a personal best time of 20.61 seconds at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Club Championships in Satellite Beach, Florida, in July. Miller is listed at number 16 in the world. He also competed at the world under-20 championships and got as far as the semifinals before bowing out.
In the 400m, Miller is listed at number 10 in the world with his personal best junior national record run of 45.81 seconds he did to finish behind World and Olympic Champion Steven Gardiner at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) National Track and Field Championships at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium at the end of June.
In the junior men’s discus, Tarajh Hudson is at number 13 in the world with his personal best toss of 54.57m (179’) that he did at the BAAA National Track and Field Championships in June. Keyshawn Strachan is tied for 19th in the world in the junior men’s javelin with a personal best toss of 72.13m (236’ 8”), that was done for the silver medal in the under-23 boys category at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Under-18 (U18), Under-20 (U20) and Under-23 (U23) Championships in San José, Costa Rica, in July.
That mark is a new junior and senior national record for Strachan.
High school sensation Lacarthea Cooper is the only Bahamian listed in the world’s top 20 for an athletics discipline in the under-18 girls division.
The 17-year-old has a personal best run of 1:00.21 in the 400m hurdles that was done at the Red-Line Athletics Track and Field Classic in March that has her listed at number 15 in the world in that discipline in the under-18 girls category.
In the under-20 girls division, University of Houston standout Camille Rutherford is listed at number 12 in the world in the 100m, running a personal best time of 11.32 seconds twice this year – once at the 93rd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium, in Austin, Texas, in March, and the other for a fifth place finish at the American Athletic Conference Championships at the University of South Florida (USF) Track Complex, in Tampa, Florida, in May.
Megan Moss is at number 11 in the world in the junior women’s 400m with her personal best run of 52.13 seconds that she did at the NCAA East Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Florida, in May.
Finally, Rhema Otabor is number 10 in the world in the junior women’s javelin with her personal best junior national record throw of 55.08m (180’ 8”) that she did for fourth at the world under-20 championships in Nairobi.
Most of the junior athletes in the country have wrapped up their seasons and are preparing for next year.
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source https://thenassauguardian.com/juniors-highly-ranked-on-the-top-performance-lists/
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