Bermuda will be represented at this month’s Carifta Games by a squad of 13 athletes, the Bermuda National Athletics Association has confirmed.

The team, to be coached by former Olympic sprinter Devon Bean and managed by Mia Black, will compete in Grenada from March 26 to 28.

Eight of the athletes on Bermuda’s team are making their Carifta debut.

Long jumper Ethan Philip, high jumper Kevin Miller and distance runner Tyler Smith are representing in the under-20 boys category, while discus thrower Tiara DeRosa and long jumper Alexis Trott are competing among the under-20 girls category.

Distance runners Aaron Jacobs and Quincy Kuzyk, sprinters Dyjmon Reid and Stephan Dill, and high jumper Elisha Darrell are competing in the under-18 boys, while high jumper Sakari Famous, sprinter Jahkera Tucker and distance runner Lynsey Palmer are competing among the under-18 girls category.

“The BNAA Board has ratified the team and are very happy with our selection,” Donna Raynor, the BNAA president, said.

Famous is the only athlete on the team to have already won a medal at a Carifta Games, having won silver and bronze medals at the 2014 and 2015 Games in Martinique and St Kitts and Nevis respectively, at the under-18 girls level.

“We would like to see Sakari continue with her trend and place well at Carifta,” Raynor added. “Based on her performances so far, with every meet she is jumping higher. Our hope is that she will be at peak performance at Carifta.

“Tiara is throwing well and with her throws in the discus this year she would have been in the medals last year,” Raynor said. “So hopefully she will throw at the games as she has each event.

“We are excited to have Lynsey and Tyler as part of the team and I am sure they will perform well and they both might be surprises for us.

“Of course we always have expectations with our jumpers, so expect them to perform.”

Paramus Catholic student Trott is a surprise late addition to the team after national coach Troy Douglas learnt of her rapid development.

“We were surprised to find that we had an athlete overseas in school and had met the standard in the long jump,” Raynor said.

“We were contacted and advised about it by Bill Euler. Troy contacted her coach, who was quite pleased to hear of this and fully supported her competing at the 2016 Carifta Games.”

Raynor cleared the air over the exclusion of 12-year-old Selah Tuzo, who met the Carifta standard in the 3,000 metres, but is too young to compete in the championships.

“We are very excited about the possibility in the next few years that she will be eligible and we can foresee a great future ahead in athletics for her,” Raynor said.

“It was voted on in our last Carifta Congress in 2015 that athletes have to be in their 14th year to be eligible to compete in the Games.

“One of the main reasons is because in the under-20 division, especially the young ladies, our numbers across the Caribbean are dwindling and we are trying to come up with different strategies to see if we can improve the numbers.”

The Carifta Games squad departs for Grenada on March 23 and returns March 29.