CARIFTA games bound athlete Cassey George is not just aiming to medal at this month end’s CARIFTA Games in The Bahamas, but the 14-year-old Lindener is hoping to make history at the prestigious regional event by breaking the girls’ under 17 1500m record.
George, who burst onto the national track and field radar about a year ago,
is now one of Guyana’s top medal prospects for CARIFTA which will be held March 29 – April 2. George clocked 4:44.1 seconds at the Athletic Association of Guyana’s (AAG) CARIFTA Trials earlier this month to secure her spot on this year’s team.
George’s time is just three seconds slower than what fellow Guyanese Jevina Straker clocked to win gold at the 2009 CARIFTA Games in Saint Lucia and less than a second away from Straker’s second gold medal time a year later in the Cayman Islands. Although she has two CARIFTA gold medals, Straker has never run below 4:50 on grass. Even five-time CARIFTA medallist Alika Morgan failed to accomplish what George did earlier this month at the CARIFTA Trials.
Both Morgan and Straker had however, significantly improved on their times on grass when they got to CARIFTA. Morgan and Straker’s current personal records over 1500m were achieved at CARIFTA Games.
Even though coaches, athletes, journalists and track and field enthusiasts local and overseas were impressed with George’s 4:41s in the 1500m, the third form Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) student said that it was far from her best effort.
“I don’t think it was fast. I feel I ran very slow in that race and I know I can do better,” George said.
George told Stabroek Sport that this year’s CARIFTA Games will not be her first overseas outing. George competed at the Elite Sports Barbados Relay Fair last year and her team placed third in the girls’ 4x400m. George said that she enjoyed that experience because it was her first time competing on a synthetic track.
George, who is trained by CWSS club coach Moses Pantlitz, said that she searched the internet and discovered that the girls’ under 17 record for her pet event, the 1500m is held by Jamaican Natasha Goule who has astonishingly won 17 medals during her CARIFTA career. Goule, now a 21-year-old senior at NCAA division one college Louisiana State University (LSU) where Marian Burnett attended, holds the 1500m and 800m in the under 17 and under 20 categories.
In the under 17 category, Goule’s CARIFTA records are 2:09.59s for the 800m and 4:32.70s in the 1500m. George said that she wants to go after the 1500m record this year, and although she does not enjoy running the 800m as much, she hopes to excel in that event as well as the 3000m. George said that her coach encourages her to stick with the 800m as it is her best event
“Right now I’m looking at the record and I am hoping to break that record,” George said.
George’s coach Pantlitz said that he has been training George for just over a year and what stands out about her is that she is a very determined and hard-working athlete. Pantlitz said that she is phenomenally talented and he will not be surprised if she comes close to or eclipses Goule’s record.
George is confident that she can improve on her 4:41s 1500m personal best because of all the work that she has done in training. She looks ahead to the CARIFTA Games with excitement as she awaits her chance to shine at the Caribbean biggest track and field stage.
“I am very excited because I know I worked hard throughout the year and when you work hard you will always see improvements,” George stated.
