Sakari Famous, the high jumper, and discus thrower Tiara DeRosa will be two of Bermuda’s best medal hopes at this weekend’s Carifta Games in Grenada.

The 13-member team contains eight athletes who are competing at Carifta for the first time, including middle-distance runner Tyler Smith, who retained his Junior Male Athlete of the Year title last week, and Alexis Trott, an overseas student who met the standard in the long jump.

The team leaves the island today, aiming to match the three medals last year’s team brought back from St Kitts.

Famous and DeRosa had the perfect warm-up for Carifta when they set records at the Bermuda School Sports Federation’s Senior Athletics Championships on Friday, Famous breaking Latroya Darrell’s 13-year-old record with a winning leap of 1.75 metres (5ft 8.89in) and DeRosa shattering a second long-standing Sonya Smith record in the over-16 discus.

Donna Raynor, the president of the Bermuda National Athletic Association, is confident of a good showing from the team. Famous is the only member of the team with medal-winning experience at Carifta, winning silver two years ago in Martinique and a bronze in St Kitts last year.

“Sakari has medalled in the past and we would like to see her get on the podium especially now that she will be in the upper age group of the under-18s,” Raynor said. “With her jumping what she just jumped at the [schools] championships that bodes well for her being in the medals.

“Tiara, I just hope she maintains what she’s been doing and doesn’t fear the competition. Tyler is a huge possibility of medalling in the 5,000 as well as Elisha [Darrell] who is in the under-18s. If he jumps how he can jump he could be a medal hope.

“We’ll see how Lindsey [Palmer] makes out as this will be her first time at Carifta. Ethan, in the long jump, has been steadily increasing and what I always say in the long jump is all you need is one good jump.”

Added Raynor: “Sprinting in the Caribbean is always difficult and we’ve got ‘newbies’ in both the male and female so it is more about getting their feet wet. All those countries are coming up with some good sprinters. Our strength lies in the middle distance and jumps and I think that is going to continue.”

The team is coached by Olympic sprinter Devon Bean and managed by Mia Black. Raynor will also accompany the team.