V.I. National Junior Team Member Allison Peter won the gold medal in the 200m race at the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Junior Track and Field Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic this past weekend with a time of 23.68.
Kay Selvon of Trinidad and Tobago was second in 23.73, and Fenny Chalas of the Dominican Republic was third in 23.94, according to the V.I. Track and Field Federation.
Peter, near full recovery from a toe injury, is well on her way to improving her performance at the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada later in the month.
It will be her second appearance in that competition. Her first appearance was in 2008 as a 16-year-old.
Peter’s V.I. teammate Leslie Murray won the silver in the 400m hurdles at CAC. After having the fastest-qualifying time in the preliminary rounds of the 400m hurdles, Murray came back later in the day to win the silver with a time of 51.45. It is his first CAC Junior medal and the first in the hurdles for a V.I. athlete.
At the 2009 CARIFTA Games, Murray won the silver medal in the 400m hurdles and the bronze in the 400m. As a junior athlete, he is one of the top overall hurdlers in the Central America and Caribbean.
His personal best and V.I. national record time in the 400m hurdles is 49.83, which he ran in Fayetteville, Ark., in 2009. He competed in the IAAF World Junior Championships in 2008 as a high school runner. Allison Peter and Deseree King are also competing in the CAC Juniors and as high school athletes will meet very stiff competition.
Peter won two silver medals; in the 100m and 200m, last year at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Brissonnee, Italy. In both those races she finished second to Jodie Williams of Great Britain. The two most likely will meet again in Canada for the world title in 100m and 200m.
Currently Peter is listed number four on the IAAF performance list with a 200m time of 23.29 at the Caribbean Free Trade Association Games this past Easter in the Cayman Islands.
Much further north, V.I. National Team members Adrian Durant and Courtney Patterson competed in British Columbia, Canada, this past weekend at the 2010 Lafarge Abbotsford International Track Classic. The Abbotsford International is a part of the Pacific Canada Track and Field Series, which provides international and Olympic level competition for track and field athletes.
Patterson finished fourth in the 100m with a time of 11.69. Durant finished fifth in the 100m in 10.87.
For more information about V.I. track and field athletes and races, go to the V.I. Track and Field Association website: http://virginislandstrackandfield.org.
