Florida High School Athletes Competing At Carifta Games

Montverde Academy's Adaejah Hodge will be representing the British Virgin Islands at the Carifta Games this weekend in the Bahamas.

Good luck to the following Florida high school athletes competing at the Carifta Games this weekend in the Bahamas. This is the 50th annual event that gathers that very best high school aged athletes from the Caribbean nations and islands every spring. 

List of Florida high school athletes competing at the 2023 Carifta Games

One of the more anticipated races with Florida rooting interest will be the U-20 girls 800 meter race featuring two sub 2:10 half milers in Michelle Smith of Montverde Academy and Layla Haynes of IMG Academy. Despite both competing in similar events in the state of Florida, the two have rarely competed actually head to head.

During the indoor season on consecutive weekends but different meets at the Alachua County Sports Center, Haynes and Smith ran U.S. high school national leading times in the 600 meter run in separate races. 

They will have two Jamaicans to contend with in the girls 800 though that have run under 2:10 in the event like them in 19 year old Kishay Rowe at 2:07.04 and 18 year old Rickeisha Simms at 2:08.18. 

Smith will also be a top contender in the girls 400 meter hurdles after making the World U20 Championships finals in the event last summer with a 57.48 personal best and is the current U.S. high school national leader in the event this spring including victories at the Bob Hayes Invitational and Florida Relays. She was the Carifta Games champion last April in the 800 meter run and 400 meter hurdles for the U-17 division. 

The 17 year old Smith from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands will be hard pressed at the Carifta Games though by two Jamaicans who have also run 57 seconds in the event in 19 year old Tonyan Beckford at 57.33 and 18 year old Alliah Baker at 57.60.  

Meanwhile, Haynes has a shot to be a double champion at the Carifta Games as well as the third seed in the U-20 women's 1500 meter run with a 4:45.10 best and certainly capable of much faster with her mile and 1600 meter times stateside. The 18 year old native of Barbados committed to the University of Florida will have two 19 year olds from Jamaica that have run 4:41 to try and defeat in Jody Ann Mitchell and Kishay Rowe. 

Haynes earned a silver medal in the 800 and bronze medal in the 1500 at last April's Carifta Games held in Kingston, Jamaica. 

George Jenkins senior La'Quan Ellis is lone Florida high school male competing in the meet and is the only triple jumper to have leaped over 15 meters this spring, which he did in the Carifta Games trials in the Bahamas a few weeks ago with a mark of 15.04 meters. Ellis is seeded sixth out of eleven athletes in the triple jump and sixth out of eight athletes in the high jump with a personal best clearance of 1.77 meters.  

Montverde Academy junior Adaejah Hodge has been nothing short of dominant in her high school meets as of late including setting the high school national record indoors in the 200 meter dash last month at the New Balance Nationals Indoor.

Hodge will be attempting to win both the 100 and 200 meter dash at the Carifta Games for the U-20 age division with her personal bests of 11.18 and 22.54 in the event. She will have stiff competition from some of Jamaica's best in Serena Cole (11.18 100m) and Alana Reid (11.24 100m, 22.96 200m) with Reid in both races against Hodge. 

The boarding school in Montverde Academy is well represented with several of its international athletes competing in the Carifta Games as not only are their two most prominent stars in Michelle Smith and Adaejah Hodge competing, but two of their young emerging talents both from Bermuda in Ellise Dickson and Arima Turner in a pair of events for their home island nation.

Both freshmen will gain valuable experience competing in the Carifta Games. Dickinson is coming off a breakthrough 54.74 PR race in the 400 at the Florida Relays.