Rodriguez, Baptiste bid for sprint crowns

DION RODRIGUEZ and Kelli-Ann Baptiste will be vying for 100m title, in the Under-20 boys and girls categories, when the National Junior Track and Field Championships sprints off at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo from 10 am today.

In the absence of reigning champ Darrel Brown, currently on a scholarship at Auburn University, USA, Rodriguez, of Rebirth club, will have to withstand the challenge of Phoenix’s Kevin Straker to cop gold in today’s final. Baptiste, the rising star from Zenith club in Tobago, won double gold in a meet in Barbados last weekend, in personal best times of 10.48 in the 100m and 23.22 in the 200m. The 16-year-old will be expected to face the starter’s gun with petite Wanda Hutson from Rebirth and Monique Cabral, also from Rebirth. Also expected to strike gold today are Jamil James and Joel Pile in the U-20 400m; Pilar McShine in the U-17 1,500m and Rhonda Watkins in the U-17 shot put and long jump. Events on the card today are the 100m, 400m and 1,500m, in the boys and girls U-17 and U-20, and, the field events, the U-17 javelin, shot put, discus, long jump, pole vault, triple jump and high jump.