BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC) - Jamaica's junior athletes produced another colossal display and strode to an unchallenged 24th consecutive medal-topping performance as the 37th CARIFTA Games ended last night.

Propelled by championship records from distance runners Natoya Goule and Kemoy Campbell, the Jamaicans won 11 of the 22 gold medals during the last session of the three-day meet at the Jubilee Stadium.

They piled up 69 medals, comprising 29 gold, 25 silver and 15 bronze to overwhelm the opposition again.
Trinidad and Tobago placed second with 30 medals, 10 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze, and the Bahamas collected eight gold, three silver, and 12 bronze to finish third with 23 medals.

Barbados placed next on the medal grid in fourth place with 26 medals, seven gold, 10 silver and nine bronze, followed by Martinique with 14 medals (5-3-6), and Grenada with eight (3-2-3).

Goule, who had won the 1500-metre gold on Friday, smashed the Under-20 Girls' 800-metre record with a superb run in two minutes 05.90 seconds.

She easily outgunned Trinidad and Tobago's Afiya Walker (2:10.20) and Jessica James (2:11.07).

Goule's effort lowered the 10-year-old mark of 2:06.83 by T&T's Melissa de Leon as she brilliantly completed a CARIFTA Games 800/1500 double for the fourth year in a row.
Goule had done the U-17 middle-distance double in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Trinidad and Tobago's Gavyn Nero repeated as Under-20 Boys' 800-metre champion with a win in one minute 51.94 seconds and prevented a Jamaican sweep of all the 800-metre races.

Nero defeated Jamaican Theon O'Connor - to add to his 1500-metre win on Friday - as the pair repeated their placings of a year ago in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

O'Connor, a two-time CARIFTA U-17 two-lap champion, clocked 1:52.49 for silver and Bermuda's Aaron Evans (1:52.61) was third.

Among the lower age-group, Jamaicans Chantal Duncan (2:13.46) and Ristananna Tracey (2:13.77) got first and second respectively in the girls' 800m and Jamaican Javere Bell clocked 1:56.12 to land the U-17 Boys' event.

Campbell delivered one of the most massive wins here this weekend when he lapped the entire field and won the Open Boys' 5000 metres in a new record time.

A 3000-metre U-17 champion last year, Campbell took control early and won the arduous 12-and-a-half lap run in 14:46.51, shattering a 27-year-old mark by Grenada's Maurice Williams of 14:58.23.

Campbell's run was only the third sub 15-minute run in the 28-year history of the event and silver medallist Christian Rock of Barbados, and bronze medallist Kendis Bullard were more than a minute behind.

Jamaica closed the meet with their usual flourish, sweeping of all the 1600-metre relay events.

They were unchallenged in the Under-17 categories and logged solid wins as well in the senior division to close out the meet in familiar style - with four consecutive victories on the track.

The team of Keiron Stewart, Ramone McKenzie, Nickel Ashmeade, and Andre Peart strode to Jamaica's eighth consecutive win in the U-20 Boys' 4x400 relay.

They stopped the clock at 3:09.71 to defeat Trinidad and Tobago (3:11.34) and the Bahamas (3:12.09).

Jamaica's U-20 Girls' team, unbeaten in this event since 1985, won their race - with Kayon Robinson, Shana-Gaye Tracey, Nikita Tracey and Alecia Cutenar - in 3:39.12, all alone at the finish as T&T picked up silver in 3:43.65.

Earlier in the U-17 races, Petra Fanty, Shericka Jackson, Danielle Dowie and Sandrae Farquharson propelled Jamaica's girls to a stylish win in 3:39.62, beating St Kitts and Nevis (3:49.13), and the boys delivered 4x400 relay gold as well soon after in 3:19.26.

Nolan Williams, Rolando Reid, A-Shawni Mitchell and Javere Bell c****ined for the Jamaican win by about 25 metres over T&T (3:21.20).

Nickel Ashmeade scored a superb win over IAAF World Youth (Under-18) champion Ramone McKenzie in a Jamaica one-two finish in the Under-20 Boys' 200 metres but the Reggae powerhouse would score no more wins in the half-lap finals.

Bahamian Nivea Smith took the U20 Girls' 200 in 23.01 seconds, edging local favourite Meritza Williams (23.11) of St Kitts and Nevis, with Jamaican Jura Levy (23.28) third.
Grenada's Kirani James and the US Virgin Islands' Alison Peter swept the U-17 200-metre gold medals.

James, the 2007 World Youth 400-metre silver medallist and 400-metre champion here on Friday, won his race in 21.38 over T&T's Moriba Morain (21.74) and Peter (23.99) pushed T&T's Kai Selvon (24.14) into second spot in the 200 U17 Girls' race.

Jamaica's traditional sprint hurdles dominance was significantly shaken and they secured only one of the four titles on offer.

There were many years when the Jamaicans won no fewer than three - some times all four - sprint hurdles, but Keiron Stewart gave them their only sprint hurdles gold medal of the 2008 meet by capturing the U-20 Boys' 110-metre hurdles.

Stewart, a silver medallist last year, stepped up to the top spot when he clocked 13.50 seconds to win ahead of his teammate Warren Weir (14.13).

Barbadians Kenrisha Brathwaite and Kierre Beckles and the Bahamian Aaron Wilmore surged to gold in the other sprint hurdles events.

Wilmore erased Jamaican Romaine Gordon's 2003 mark of 13.12 as he sped to a championship record 12.88 seconds to land the U-17 Boys 100-hurdles.

Wilmore won ahead of Barbadian Tyrell Forde (13.13) and Jamaican D'Omar Boyden (13.49).

In the girls' equivalent, Brathwaite (14.04) beat Jamaican Samantha Elliott (14.17) for the gold medal, while Beckles (13.43) outgunned Jamaican Rosemary Carty (13.63) in the U-20 Girls' event.