Raymond Graham, STAR Writer

Jamaica's team that competed at the 2015 Pan American Junior Championship returned home yesterday afternoon. The country had something to smile about on the weekend as after three days of competition at the Foote Field at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Jamaica ended the meet with 13 medals, one gold, four silver and eight bronze.

Head coach of the successful team, Michael Carr, the man who was at the helm when the World Youth team topped the world two years ago in the medals table, was very pleased with the team's overall performance.

"It was a very challenging meet, but I think the athletes performed with courage and it was a real team effort by manager, medical staff and athletes as everyone had to go beyond the call of duty sometimes. A lot of these athletes competed with injuries and getting 13 medals at these championships is very good as there were world-class performances there so to do so well at the back-end of our season, it was indeed a fantastic achievement," said Carr.

The 13 medals garnered by the team was the fourth best ever performance at these championships by a Jamaican team. The 21 medals garnered in Tampa , Florida, in 1999 - nine gold, seven silver and five bronze - remains the best so far by a Jamaica team.

With a little luck it could have been more medals for the team as five athletes just missed out after finishing fourth in their events.