04092018 sports

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SPORTS SECTION E

MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2018

Wilson, Thomas book spots in high jump final By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net GOLD COAST, Australia — Jamal Wilson and Donald Thomas booked their spots into the final of the men’s high jump with the third and 11th best qualifying performances of 2.21 metres at the Carrara Stadium yesterday morning. Leading the way in Group A, Wilson cleared all five marks that he attempted. After passing at 1.95 metres or 6-feet, 4 3/4-inches and 2.0m (6-6 3/4), it was smooth sailing for Wilson at 2.05m (6-8 3/4), 2.10m (6-10 3/4), 2.15m (7-0 1/2), 2.18m (7-1 3/4) and 2.21m (7-3). “It felt good, the track felt great and the atmosphere was great,”

Wilson said. “It was good.” When asked what the Bahamian HIGH jumpers Jamal Wilson (left) and Donald Thomas. public can expect in As for his performance, Wilson the final on Wednesday, Wilson said “we will let God said everything was “smooth” as silk as he cleared the first heights. do the rest.”

“I’m not too concerned about competition. It’s just between me and the bar,” Wilson said. “I’m just going to let these guys go out there and do what they have to do and I will do what I have to do. In the end, so be it.” Thomas, on the other hand, passed on the first three marks and came in at 2.10m (6-10 3/4) and cleared 2:15m (7-0 1/2) and 2.18m (7-1 3/4) without any problems on his first try. However, on 2.21m (7-3), he knocked down the first two attempts before getting some advice from Wilson and easily cleared the final attempt to get into the final as well. Thomas, who opted not to speak, said he will be ready for the final.

Sprinters advance to semis By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net GOLD Coast, Australia — Day one of the athletic competition in the XXI Commonwealth Games saw sprinters Warren Fraser and V’Alonee Robinson make it to the semi-final of the men’s and women’s 100 metres, while Michael Mathieu just barely got into the semi-final of the men’s 400 metres. Sunday’s competition at the Carrara Stadium, however, didn’t go without its misfortune as sprinter Shavez Hart missed joining Fraser in advancing to the century’s semifinal. He ran 10.53 seconds for third in the second of nine heats and was 32nd overall. “I had a good run and everything looked good, so I really thought that I would have gone through,” he said. There was a false start with one competitor eliminated and after they settled down to run again, the race was recalled about 20 metres into it. However, the officials ruled that there was no infraction by any of the competitors. “When we got back the third time, I just tried to sit back because I didn’t want to got eliminated,” Hart said. “I felt pretty good, but I was just sitting back in the blocks waiting and I may have waited too late to make my move.” Fraser could only muster an eighth place finish in the last of three semis in the men’s straightaway race in a sub-par 10.44 that placed him 20th overall. “I don’t know,” said Fraser when asked what happened. “I tried, but I think I tried too hard. My body didn’t give me what I asked for.” And although he got to the semis, Fraser said it’s not something for him to celebrate because the goal was to get to the final and run fast enough to be in contention for a medal.

GOLD Coast, Australia — Steven Gardiner can now boast of being the Bahamas national record holder in both the men’s 200 and 400 metres. Taking advantage of his application for a green card in the United States, which required him to skip the trip to the Commonwealth Games, Gardiner participated in the 200m in the 2018 Miami Hurricanes Alumni at the University of Miami on Saturday.

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BASTIAN ENDS UP 31ST IN 50M FREE GOLD Coast, Australia — In his second event of the XXI Commonwealth Games, Izaak Bastian had to settle for sixth place in the fifth of eight heats of the men’s 50 metre freestyle at the Optus Aquatic Centre yesterday. Bastian’s time of 24.07 seconds placed him 31st overall in a field of 60 competitors - one was disqualified - and he is slated to return to the pool for his third swim in the men’s 200m individual medley at 11.21am Australian time in lane eight of heat three. The swimming segment will be completed on Tuesday. Bastian will be joined by Joanna Evans, who will also swim in her final event in the women’s 400m freestyle in lane three of heat four at 10:43am. Lilly Higgs, the other female on the team, is already done with her two swims. And N’Nyhn Fernander is still recovering after he was withdrawn from further competition and placed in isolation at the Games Village to be treated for Influenzavirus B.

CHARLTON BREAKS LOLO JONES’ 8-YEAR-OLD SCHOOL RECORD ON TRACK: Sprinters Michael Mathieu (top left), V’Alonee Robinson (top right), Shavez Hart (above left) and Warren Fraser can be seen yesterday on day 1 of the athletic competition at the XXI Commonwealth Games. “You always expect to perform better than the last time, so I know I could have done better,” Fraser pointed out. “I just have to head back to training and try to get my mind cleared up to race. I guess it’s too difficult for me trying to juggle grad-school with training.” Earlier in the day, Fraser advanced out of the preliminaries with the 17th best time overall after he got the second automatic spot in the first of nine heats in 10.37, ironically running out of lane eight in both rounds.

Robinson kicked off the programme for Team Bahamas in the heats of the women’s 100m. In the third of six heats, her season’s best time of 11.73 pushed her into the semis with the fourth fastest losing times. In the return for her second race of the day, Robinson didn’t have the turn over as she did the first time around and she had to settle for eighth place in 12.09 and 24th place overall. The fastest qualifying time was done by Asha Philip from Great Britain in 11.21.

In the process, Gardiner erased Commonwealth Games participant Michael Mathieu’s previous national record of 20.16 seconds that he set on May 6, 2012 at the Grand Prix Caixa Governo do Pera, Belem, Brazil. The tall, lanky 6-foot, two-inch Gardiner became the first Bahamian to break the 20-second barrier when he ran an impressive 19.75 to add his name in the record books next to the 400 record that he also holds. “I feel very excited about it,” Gardiner told The Tribune. “It’s a new national record and now I have the 200/400 double. I just want to say thanks to God and my coach for keeping me healthy. I wanted to get this national record and now I have it.” Looking back at the race, which was a reflection of the time when he burst onto the scene as a high school student in Abaco, Gardiner admitted that it was “poetry in motion” as he was able to improve on his start, taking control coming off the final bend and he just accelerated to the finish line. “For the first time, I think I executed the perfect race like my coach (Gary Evans) told me to,” Gardiner said. “I did everything

Mathieu, moments after running his first round of the men’s 400m at the Commonwealth Games, accepted the fact that if there was going to be anyone capable of surpassing his mark, it would have been Gardiner. “I knew that he would have after I saw him run 43 last year and his first 200 metres was pretty quick and he still holds it from there,” Mathieu said. “I knew then that he

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STEVEN GARDINER with coach Gary Evans. that he told me to do and here we are with 19.75.” The new barrier that he attained for his latest record-breaking feat was something that Gardiner admitted that he doesn’t expect Mathieu to be pleased, but he acknowledges that it comes with the territory. “Records are meant to be broken and so there’s always someone coming, so it’s just something that will happen,” Gardiner insisted.

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net DEVYNNE Charlton, inspired by one of her role models of the sport in the stands watching her perform on Saturday, began her final outdoor season for the Purdue Boilermakers by breaking an eight-yearold school record that was previously held by American Lolo Jones. At the LSU Battle on the Bayou, Charlton broke the 100-metre hurdles school record for the 11th-ranked Boilermakers with a windlegal (+1.6) time of 12.70 seconds. That time broke her own school record by 0.04 of a second. It also broke the Bernie Moore Track Stadium record, previously held by Olympian Lolo Jones, by 0.01 of a second. “I didn’t expect to run that fast this early in the season, but the conditions were right and it came down to a perfect execution over the hurdles,” Charlton told The Tribune. “I executed a bit better, but I had to push harder out of the blocks and tried to stay mechanically sound the rest of the race.” With Jones in the stands, Charlton predicted that if she was there, she would do something special and came through in true form. She smashed the record which had stood since 2010. Charlton is now within 0.06 of a second of the Bahamian national record of 12.64 set by Texas senior transfer Pedrya Seymour at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “I feel pretty good about the upcoming season. If you look back, I ran a PR of 12.9 and I am much further ahead of where I was then, so I am expecting something special to happen this year,” said Charlton, who is in her final season at Purdue under the

Michelle-Lee Ahye from Trinidad & Tobago won Robinson’s heat in 11.25 for the third fastest time. “I felt my first 40 to 60 metres wasn’t where I wanted it to be, so I tried to hold on as much as I could,” Robinson said. “It was still a pretty good feeling and I am just thankful that I was able to move it on to the next round.” Mathieu, having had his men’s national 200m record broken by Steven Gardiner on Saturday in Miami, Florida, barely got through his heat in the 400m, running 46.97 for fifth place. But after a disqualification of Matthew

Gardiner’s 19.75 new national record in 200m By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

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