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TEAM BAHAMAS, Pg 2
SPORTS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2017
Comets strike on day 1
LEADER OF THE PACK: Athletes compete yesterday on day one of the BAISS Track and Field Championships at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium. SEE MORE PHOTOS ON PAGES 4 & 5 Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff
Eleven new meet records set
By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
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leven new meet records were set, and the twoteam race for the 2017 Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Track and Field title has already developed atop the standings following day one. The two-time defending champions Queen’s College Comets streaked ahead of the field and set the pace with an already dominant performance. The Comets posted 449 points, 53 points ahead of perennial powerhouse St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine, who scored 396 yesterday at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium. The familiar foes have quickly emerged as the lone contenders yet again for this year’s title as the St Anne’s Blue Waves stand in third with 132 points, the St John’s College Giants are fourth with 96
points while the Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders round out the top five with 91 points. The remainder of the field includes the Temple Christian Suns with 66.50 points, Jordan Prince William Falcons (53.50 points), Kingsway Academy Saints (32 points), Aquinas College Aces (24 points), St Andrew’s School Hurricanes (23 points), Westminster College Diplomats (22 points) and Charles W Saunders Cougars (14 points). In addition to the new meet records set on day one, six athletes surpassed the CARIFTA qualifying standards. The Big Red Machine’s Megan Moss took the Under-16 girls’ 400m in 54.96 seconds. She surpassed the previous meet record of 56.72 and the U-18 CARIFTA
standard of 57.00. In the U-18 girls’ event, the top three finishers - Wendira Moss of St John’s (54.94), Marrisa White of SAC (56.62) and Tyler Gray of St Anne’s (56.88) all surpassed the previous record in the division and the aforementioned CARIFTA standard. On the boys’ side, the top three finishers in the U-14 boys’ 400m all surpassed the previous 20-year-old meet record of 1:00.30, with SAC’s Otto Laing in first place at 53.42, the Comets’ Antonio Bethel at 54.24 and SAC’s Shimar Bain at 58.69. Bethel also set a new record of his own in the long jump with a new mark of 5.31m to erase the 17-year-old mark of 5.18m. In the U-16 boys’ 400m, Kendrick Major of Queen’s College set
a new mark in the event in 49.84, followed by teammate Ethan Hanna in 50.47 and Raymond Oriaki of SAC in 50.92. Oriaki would return to break an 11-year-old meet record in the 80mH with his time of 11.41. The middle distance events also produced a new meet record in the U-14 girls’ 1,200m with first place going to the Comets’ Devin Cuffy-Bethel in 4:04.49. Breyanna Kemp of CW Saunders (4:15.04), and Esther Simms of St John’s (4:19.83) surpassed the old record of 5:39.92. Several records also fell in the field. The Comets’ Shaunece Miller set a new mark of 1.45m in the U-14 girls’ high jump while Jordan Lewis of Temple Christian set a new mark in the U-18 boys’ discus with his throw of 42.04 me-
tres. The Big Red Machine also produced a pair of CARIFTA qualifying sprint hurdlers. Oscar Smith ran 14.27 in the U-18 boys’ 110mH to dip below the necessary 14.70, while Travonte Mott took the U-20 boys’ race in 14.00 ahead of the 14.50 pace. Doniesha Anderson set a new record of 1.73m in the U-20 girls’ high jump and also took first place in the 400m in 55.56. The Comets’ Lavardo Henfield also took home two first place finishes on day one, winning both the U-20 boys’ 400m (48.77) and long jump (6.72m). Full results can be found at www.tekresults.net The Comets are currently ahead of last year’s pace when they posted 462 points on day one – 28 points ahead of the Big Red Machine who scored 434. They went on to lead the duration of the meet and win with a total of 1,477 points while SAC was second with 1365.
Official launch of ‘Team Bahamas’ CARIFTA movement By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net THE 2017 CARIFTA season is set to be a busy one for Team Bahamas as the country prepares for competition both at home and abroad in several sporting disciplines. The “Team Bahamas” CARIFTA movement gathered at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium for the official launch to its season and to begin galvanising support from the general public. National federations representing judo, swimming, water polo and athletics will all field participating teams in April. The Bahamas was selected by the Caribbean Judo Confederation to host the inaugural edition of judo at CARIFTA April 5-9 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. Athletes ranging from age 13-20 will compete over the course of the event, expected to include approximately 120 participants. The Bahamas has a strong reputation in the region with many Bahamian junior judo athletes winning gold medals at regional tournaments like the Barbados International Open. Judo is currently practiced on several islands
in the Bahamas including the capital, Abaco, Bimini and Grand Bahama. “We’re very blessed to have such a good working government environment to be able to host CARIFTA Judo,” Bahamas Judo Federation executive D’Arcy Rahming Jr said. “The main competition is going to be on the seventh, so keep that date open. Eight teams are coming in, possibly nine. The athletes, we are getting the organisation done right now. The athletes are lifting weights everyday and training everyday after school.” The CARIFTA Water Polo Championships will run concurrently with judo April 7-9 at the Betty Kelly Kenning-Aquatic Centre. Chris Illing, head coach of Bahamas Water Polo, said the sport has seen tremendous growth within the last decade and hosting this event is evidence of that growth. “Back in 2004 we had one team, now we have three teams in three age categories. There will be over 20 teams coming from seven participating countries so we will have a lot of matches,” he said. “We definitely need everybody’s support. We need the eighth man which will be our audience hopefully, so we need eve-
SHOWN (l-r) are Tim Munnings, director of sports, Chris Illing, Bahamas water polo president, Midred Adderley, CARIFTA track and field team manager, Daniel Johnson, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Rochelle Bastian, Bahamas Swimming Federation assistant secretary and D’Arcy Rahming Jr, Bahamas Judo Federation high performance director. Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff ryone to come out and support us,” he said. “Last year we had a triple silver finish in Trinidad & Tobago so it’s time for us to bring home the gold. We are very excited to host these countries. We are looking forward to welcoming everybody so please support us, the kids will really appreciate it.” The Bahamas fielded a 30-member team at the 2016 event in Trinidad and Tobago in the U-14, U-16
and U-19 categories. The CARIFTA Swimming Championships will also be held at the Betty Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Center. Two-time winners of the event in its past three editions, the Bahamas looks to reclaim the title at home. The Bahamas Swimming Federation will host the event April 15-19, with the final day of competition shifting to an open water
swim on Junkanoo Beach. “Our kids are working really hard right now. We only have hopefuls for the CARIFTA team, which will be named March 13. This is the youth we want to capture and we really want to promote them,” BSF representative Rochelle Bastian said. “Our team has won CARIFTA twice and last year we had a very tight second place finish in Martinique, this year we are
taking the crown back. We need our home crowd to be present everyday. We know it’s Easter weekend and we know people will be out to support us, bring your cowbells, bring that positive energy, let’s beat some drums, lets have some fun and cheer the kids on.” CARIFTA Track and Field will be the only discipline to travel in 2017 as they head to their marquee event April 15-17 in Curacao. Mildred Adderley, BAAAs treasurer, said this year’s team has several goals they wish to achieve. “We have to thank Dr Daniel Johnson and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture for the continued support in ensuring that our junior athletes are able to participate in the CARIFTA Games each year. Two weeks prior we will have our trials, March 31 to April 1 after competition we will have our team selection and ratification. Then the ball will really be rolling for Curacao,” she said. “There are two main goals for this team, firstly to win CARIFTA and secondly to be ambassadors for our country as we show the region what the Bahamas has to offer as we prepare to host the games next year in 2018.”