Sports Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange has congratulated Jamaica's junior athletes for their dominating form at the Carifta Games track and field athletic championships, which ended in St Lucia on Monday.

Jamaica topped the four-day meet with 67 medals - 39 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze, more than double runners-up Trinidad and Tobago, which ended with nine gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze. Barbados ended third with four gold, nine silver and eight bronze medals.

In a release to the media, Grange lauded the youngsters for transferring the fine form they showed at the recently concluded ISSA/ GraceKennedy Girls and Boys' Athletic Championships, as they once again throroughly dominated the competition at the regional meet for the 25th consecutive time.

Performances

The release quoted the minister saying the youngsters had "demonstrated clearly that Jamaica continues to lead the Caribbean region in athletics and would eagerly take on the rest of the world at any time".

It added: "As we saw from our record-breaking performances at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, the talent of our athletes, combined with the training that they have been receiving, has made us a force to be reckoned with in the world of athletics, so much so that some have been moved to issue challenges to us outside of regular meets."

Grange noted that to produce a contingent of the quality of athletes who represented Jamaica at the Carifta Games reassures the country that we will be among the leading nations in the sport for a long time.

The minister also praised the hard work and dedication of the coaching staff and officials whose input "was instrumental in enabling our athletes once again to be runaway winners at the CARIFTA Games".