James, St Louis head TT CARIFTA squad

James, who won the 2003 Under-17 two-lap title, will captain the boys’ team and St Louis will lead the girls outfit at the April 14-16 meet over the Easter weekend.

The TT track and field bosses have named a 65-member contingent for the games, confident that they can produce similar results to last year when they collected 36 medals, including an all-time best 13 gold, plus 14 silver and nine bronze to finish second to Jamaica.

Among the contingent will be Garvin Nero, the reigning boys’ Under-17 3,000 metre champion, who is targeting the Austin Sealy Award — as most outstanding performer — as he enters three events, the 800, the 1,500 and the 3,000 metres.

James and St Louis are both competing in the Under-20 division, where Renny Quow (boys 400) and Annie Alexander (girls’ shot put) return as defending champions.

The boys’ Under-20 squad also includes promising sprinter Keston Bledman, who copped 100-metre bronze at the IAAF World Youth (Under-18) Championship in Morocco last year, and Kervin Morgan, last year’s Under-17 400-metre gold medallist and the girls Under-20s will have Britanny St Louis, who won the Under-17 400-metre title last year.

Last year in Tobago, Jamaica completed an amazing 21st consecutive table-topping performance, when they garnered 59 medals — 29 gold, 19 silver and 11 bronze — to lead hosts TT and Barbados (6-6-3) in the medals.