Live Results: Carifta Games
Michelle Smith, a junior at Montverde Academy, won the Carifta Games U-20 women's 400 meter hurdles title improving upon her current U.S. high school national leading time in the event with a 57.69 victory against the finalists including the best in the Caribbean with her.
A native of St. Croix, Smith was representing the U.S. Virgin Islands in winning her gold medal to follow up her U-17 title from last year at the Carifta Games held in Kingston, Jamaica. She dominated the race from start to finish without a single competitor in the field emerging as a serious threat to challenge her in the race. Two Jamaicans in Tonyan Beckford in second place at 58.94 and Alliah Baker in third place at 59.55.
Smith was just two tenths of a second off her 57.48 personal best when she made the finals of World U20 Championships in the event held last August in Colombia, which stands as a Florida high school state record in an event that just is becoming part of the the state's staple of common events contested this year by the FHSAA.
Will look to see if Smith either during this current 2023 outdoor season or next year as a senior in 2024 can work her way towards breaking into the US top 10 all-time list for the event, which the current cutoff is 56.82.
