By Gyasi Merrique from Trinidad & Tobago Guardian

Lo­cal Javelin prodi­gy, Tyriq Hors­ford will chase af­ter his fifth con­sec­u­tive gold medal at this year’s 48th edi­tion of the Carif­ta Games track and field com­pe­ti­tion from April 20-22 in the Cay­man Is­lands.

Yes­ter­day, the Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ics Ad­min­is­tra­tion an­nounced its se­lec­tion for the games which rep­re­sents an in­crease from the 42 ath­letes who made the trip to Nas­sau, Ba­hamas last year.

Hors­ford, last year’s Boys Un­der- 20 Javelin win­ner with a throw of 68.15 me­tres, will head­line a cast of 58 young T&T ath­letes that are hop­ing to bet­ter last year’s haul of just 17 medals (four gold, six sil­ver and sev­en bronze).

More­over, the 19-year-old To­ba­go-based throw­er will lead a record num­ber of 19 ath­letes from the is­land that have made this year’s team.

Eleven medal­lists from the 2018 games re­turn to re­peat or bet­ter their feats in­clud­ing high­ly rat­ed sprint­er Shani­qua Bas­combe, who won sil­ver in the Girls U-17 200m last time out, as well and then won bronze in the Girls U-17 4x400m re­lay along with Rae-Ann Serville, Ma­li­ka Coutain and Natasha Fox, all of whom are al­so re­turn­ing to the pre­mier ju­nior track and field event in the Caribbean.

Oth­er re­turn­ing ath­letes in­clude reign­ing gold medal­lists Avin­dale Smith, this time com­pet­ing in the Boys U-20 200m and 4x100m. Smith won the U-17 Boys’ 400m, last year and Veay­on Joseph in Boys U-17 Javelin.

T&T fin­ished third over­all in the medal count in the last edi­tion be­hind Ja­maica (44 gold, 27 sil­ver and 11 bronze) and the Ba­hamas (6 gold, 14 sil­ver, 15 bronze), but will be con­fi­dent of bet­ter­ing both their over­all medal count and their over­all plac­ing.

Na­tion­al team and of­fi­cials

Boys U-17:

Devin Au­gus­tine (100m/200m/4x100m), Sha­keem Mc Kay (100m/200m/4x100m/4x400m), Jor­don Pope (4oom/4x400m), Jes­si­ah Jones (400m/4x400m), Ryan Camp­bell (800m), Troy Llanos (3000m), Ri­nal­do Moore (110m hur­dles/400m hur­dles/4x100m/4x400m), Miguel Telfer (long jump/4x100m), Jay­den Scott (dis­cus/shot put), Tyrese Mur­ray (dis­cus), Veay­on Joseph (javelin), An­tho­ny Di­az (javelin/4x100m/4x400m), Ryan Camp­bell (4x400m).

Girls U-17:

Shani­qua Bas­combe (100m/200m/4x100m), Tae­jha Badal (100m/200m/4x100m/4x400m), Natasha Fox (400m/4x400m), Ma­li­ka Coutain (400m/4x400m), Kare­sa Kir­ton (110m hur­dles/4x100m), Xea Bruce (400m hur­dles/4x400m), Am­ber May­hew (triple jumph), Shak­era Kirk (dis­cus), Lalenii Grant (dis­cus), Bri­an­na Per­cy (shot put), Reneisha An­drews (4x100m), Kyah La For­tune (4x100m), Chris­tine Marie Ma­haraj (4x400m), Atiya Croal (4x400m),

Boys U-20:

Kion Ben­jamin (100m/4x100m), Adell Colthrust (100m/200m/4x100m), Avin­dale Smith (200m/4x100m), Nicholas Wil­son (400m), Gen­e­sis Joseph (1500m/5000m), Justin Gay (110m hur­dles/4x100m),Tyrese Rawl­ins (110m hur­dles/4x100m), Kelsey Daniel (triple jump/long jump), Jay­don An­toine (long jump), Joel An­drews (pole vault), Christo­pher Craw­ford (dis­cus/shot put), Tyriq Hors­ford (javelin), Selvon Rochford (javelin), An­son Moses, Che Rochford, Do­minic Cole (4x100m).

Girls U-20:

Ay­la Stanis­claus (100m/200m/4x100m), Ak­i­la Lewis (100m/200m/4x100m), Rae-Ann Serville (400m/800m/4x400m), Tamia Badal (100m hur­dles/400m/4x100m), Safiya John (100m hur­dles/hep­that­lon/4x400m), Jay­da Williams (long jump), Caitlin Ra­goo­nan (long jump/4x400m), Eliz­a­beth Galera (dis­cus), Ian­na Roach (shot put), An­to­nia Sealy (javelin), Ke­moy No­ray (javelin), Leah Bernard (4x100m), Nao­mi Camp­bell (4x100m), Ta­tian­na Mar­tinez (4x400m), Nico­la Pes­nell (4x400m).

Of­fi­cials: Lu­cre­tia Burns (man­ag­er), Ron­nell Bar­clay (as­sis­tant man­ag­er), Na­dine Hamid (head coach), Kelvin Nan­coo (sprint & re­lays), Althea Bus­by (sprint & re­lays), An­to­nia Bur­ton (sprint & re­lays), Er­ic Mc Cree (sprint & re­lays), Is­mael Lopez Mas­tra­pa (throws), Wen­dell Williams (jumps), Ja­mal James (mid­dle and long dis­tance run­ning), Reynold Pot­er Lee (mul­ti events), Ar­lon Mor­ri­son (mul­ti events), Dr Anyl Gopeesingh (med­ical), Ru­el Rigs­by (med­ical), Kurlyn Smith Nicholas (med­ical), An­tho­ny Wal­cott (med­ical), Dex­ter Thomas (med­ical).

For more on this story go to: http://www.guardian.co.tt/sports/horsford-colthrust-head-carifta-medal-hopes-6.2.813177.a94a34bfdb