* Layla Haynes competes at Florida Relays. Haynes competed in the CARIFTA Games on Saturday and earned U20 gold in the 1,500m.
Photo Credit: Brandon Miles/MileSplit Florida
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U.S. High Schoolers Excel On Day 1 Of CARIFTA Games
On the international stage in the Bahamas at the CARIFTA Games, a pair of high school athletes from the U.S. earned U20 gold medals during the first day of copmetition.
IMG Academy's (FL) Davonte Howell and Layla Haynes each grabbed a title on Saturday, with Howell winning the boys 100m and Haynes taking the crowd in the girls 1,500m.
Howell, representing the Cayman Islands, kicked things off with an impressive sprint in the U20 boys 100m final, clocking 10.30 (1.9) for a wind-legal winning effort. That's just a hundredth of a second off his 10.29 PR performance from the Texas Relays last weekend.
For Haynes, the mid-distance stud donning a Barbados uniform, her CARIFTA gold medal came in a much more tactical manner. She sat in fourth place with just a lap left in the race, but closed in an astonishing 60 seconds to surge into the lead at the line in 4:53.29.
Haynes won both a silver and gold medal at last year's CARIFTA games, and has now added another gold to her resume.
More U.S. athletes are slated to compete in the U20 and U17 divisions on Sunday, including Montverde Academy's (FL) Michelle Smith representing the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 400mH and 800m. Haynes will also double back to contest the 800m with Smith, which happens to be her prime event.
You can follow along with the action with the CARIFTA Games MileSplit Live Results, which can be found here.
