Cuban prep track and field standouts won’t compete at U.S. championships

NSAF investigating why Cuban elite prep quartet was unable to travel to, compete in New Balance Nationals in New York

NEW YORK – The four elite Cuban track and field athletes scheduled to compete at the New Balance Nationals Indoor this weekend were not on their scheduled flight arriving at JFK Thursday night, and meet officials learned Friday that the Cuban athletes were unable to travel this week to compete in the U.S.

The National Scholastic Athletics Foundation (NSAF) had traveled to Cuba last fall and, in meetings with the federation, an agreement for the athletes to come and compete here had been reached.  The NSAF is investigating why the athletes were unable to travel, having not previously heard that there was any problem.  A press conference scheduled for Saturday at the meet venue, the Armory in Washington Heights in New York City, has been cancelled.

Christian Napoles, Yanna Anay Armenteros, Roxana Gomez and Edel Rogelio Amores were scheduled to travel here, along with a coach and Cuban federation delegate, and compete Saturday and Sunday.  The Cubans are among the best high-school aged athletes in the world, and all four competed at the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships, with Napoles and Armenteros winning gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the triple jump.  All four of them also competed for the Cuban team at the NSAF’s Caribbean Scholastic Invitational last June in Havana, along with Team NSAF – made up of many of 28 top U.S. high schoolers.

The NSAF is still hopeful that this year’s Caribbean Scholastic Invitational, scheduled in Havana May 27-28, will still take place.

Nearly 4,000 athletes, coming from more than 40 states, Canada, the Caribbean and Cuba, are competing this weekend at NBNI -- running, hurdling, jumping, throwing and walking their way to titles in 94 boys’ and girls’ Championship, Emerging Elite and Freshman events.  They include U.S.-leading preps in all but one event and scores of other nationally-ranked standouts.  Seventeen athletes who have already represented Team USA in World Junior, World Youth and Youth Olympic championships are on hand, as are more than two dozen previous New Balance National indoor or outdoor individual champions.

Please contact Steve Underwood for further information

[email protected] / 906-298-0959