Jamaican Nikita Tracey won the 400-metre hurdles gold medal at the 2009 Pan American Junior Track and Field Championship at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Trinidad yesterday.

Tracey won in 57.82 seconds ahead of American Dalilah Muhammad (58.42) with Jamaican Danielle Dowie third in 58.92.

Tracey would later watch as Jamaica won the women's 4X400-metre relay gold medal.

The team clocked three minutes 37.65 seconds to beat The Bahamas (3:42.17) and Canada (3:44.86).

Gold medal

On Saturday, Jamaicans found the going tough as Nickel Ashmeade won the only gold medal when he landed the boys' 200 metres.

The 19-year-old Ashmeade clocked 20.40 seconds to strike gold after the Americans had taken the other three individual sprint events.

Ashmeade was a bronze medallist over the distance at the 2007 World Youth Championship in the Czech Republic city of Ostrava

Keyth Talley of the United States finished a distant second in 20.78 secs, and Ramone McKenzie finished one-hundredth of a second later to cop the bronze medal.

Jamaica also grabbed a silver on Saturday behind the United States in the girls' 4x100m relay.

The Jamaican quartet comprising Audrea Segree, Antonique Campbell, Gayon Evans and Levy got the baton around the oval in 44.96 secs.

In the boys' event, the Jamaica team of Deuce Carter, McKenzie, Ashmeade and Dexter Lee had to settle for third in 40.06 secs.

The United States, with 100m champion Marcus Rowland on the anchor leg, clocked a Pan Am Junior record of 39.06 secs to take the gold ahead of Brazil, which finished in 39.64 secs.