SPORTS SECTION E
TRACK
Results, Pages 4 & 5
WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017
Charlton, coach Greene get top honours in Big Ten By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
T
he Bahamian connection at Purdue University got some exciting news as head coach Lonnie Greene was unanimously selected as the women’s Big Ten Coach of the Year, while sprint and hurdles specialist Devynne Charlton was the unanimous selection for the women’s Track Athlete of the Championships. The double honour came after the duo over the weekend helped Purdue win its first Big Ten Outdoor women’s team title since 1999. “It’s always an honour when your peers dub you as the coach of the year,” said Greene on the Boilermakers’ athletic website. “In a league like the Big Ten where some of the best coaches in the country practice this craft, for them to deem you worthy of such a great honour is such a great blessing from the Lord.” Greene, however, didn’t accept the full success of the Boilermakers. He attributed it to the support
HONOURED: Devynne Charlton and head coach Lonnie Greene, of Purdue University. he got from his staff, including Bahamian assistant coach Norbert Elliott and his wife Angela Elliott, Jeff Kent, Keith McBride, Chris Huffins and Cory Thalheimer. “They all played a specific role
in me getting this honour. Every head coach is only as good as his assistants,” he said. “And to the athletes under my charge, I am grateful because it was them who did the work.” Greene is the second Purdue
women’s head coach to take home the women’s Big Ten Coach of the Year honours outdoors. He joins Ben Paolillo, who won the award in 1999 after leading the women’s team to the Big Ten title that year. Greene has led the Boilermak-
ers to their highest outdoor programme ranking in history at No. 15, which the team has been ranked twice this season. This week, the team checks in at No. 16 nationally. He also has led the women’s team to the top overall ranking in the Great Lakes Region in every poll, indoors and outdoors, since the beginning of the year. Greene’s women scored 133 points at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, which is second in programme history, behind only the 1999 championship team’s 143 points. That year, the conference had three fewer teams. Charlton, in her senior year, was one of Purdue’s women who won five event Big Ten titles over the weekend to pave the way for the team title. In her role, workhorse Charlton captured three gold medals in a span of 60 minutes as she alone collected a total of 26.5 points to contribute to the Boilermakers’ success. She won the 100-metre dash - one of just two women in
SEE PAGE 2
Ijeoma-Delva, Slatter top leaderboard in the National Bowling Championships By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net UCHENNA IjeomaDelva, urged on and encouraged by her arch-rivals Driskell Rolle and Joy Lockhart, is making the most of her debut in the Bahamas Bowling Federation’s 2017 BTC National Bowling Championships. On Monday night at Mario’s Bowling and Family Entertainment Palace, Ijeoma-Delva surprised herself when she took the initial lead at the end of the first block of five games in the ladies’ division of the two-week championships. She surged ahead a total of 960 pinfalls, nine ahead of Rolle, a former national champion who sits in second with 951. Lockhart, the defending champion, is in third with 907. Meanwhile on the men’s side, as expected, the leaderboard is headed by defending champion David Slatter with 1,033 pins, followed by former champion Leonardo ‘Lee’ Davis with 1,026 and Derrick Burrows
ON FORM: Defending champion David Slatter tops the leaderboard in the men’s division of the Bahamas Bowling Federation’s 2017 BTC National Bowling Championships. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff in third with 994. Ijeoma-Delva, who has improved her average from 158 to 198 so far, said al-
though Rolle and Lockhart are competing, they have been really supportive, encouraging her to continue
to push hard during the competition. “After my second game, I said I have to make up for
it,” said Ijeoma-Delva, who got off to a disappointing start in the first two games, but made up for it in the final three games when they switched lanes. “I feel pretty good. I’m glad that I’m where I’m at because you’ve been hearing the same old names and I expected to hear the same old names. But I’m glad that they can hear a fresh new name because nobody, not even myself, expected for me to be up there.” On Thursday, the second block of games for the top bowlers will take place. Ijeoma-Delva said she’s hoping that she can be right in the pack with the rest of the bowlers so that she can get a shot at pushing herself to a spot in the live television roll off. “A lot of people have been pushing me, telling me that I can do it,” she said. “People keep telling me that I bowl some good balls and I should try it. “People have pushed me to try out for the national trials and the first time I did it, I made the national team. Now they are pushing me to
try out for the nationals, so hopefully I can do well here too.” Ijeoma-Delva has already secured her berth on the national team that will travel to Guatemala in June. She’s hoping that she can make her presence felt here at the nationals. As the defending champion, Lockhart said she expects to be the hunted as she holds the title, but she’s not going to let the competition get to her. “The first night is all about just getting on the lane and feeling it out, seeing what you have to do on the second lap around,” she said. “The conditions were pretty smooth in my opinion. “So I just need to stay focused since I’ve found out how the lane is running. As I am the one being hunted, I know it will be very competitive. I know if anybody wants to go to the World Cup, they have to get past me, so I’m not going to make it easy for them.” Rounding out the top six
SEE PAGE 2
Ministry will be sports friendly, says the new minister By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net THE new Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Michael Pintard, comes into office with a lot of promising reviews from our various sporting executives. While Pintard was just sworn in on Monday night at Government House, he indicated that his first order of business would be to meet with the stakeholders of the ministry. He noted that the ministry would be sports friendly, something that sat well with the executives, who indicated that they are looking forward to meeting him.
Bahamas Bowling Federation President Sonith Lockhart said Pintard has his endorsement because of the vibrancy that he brings to the ministry, especially because of his commitment to culture. “I remember after every election he and his team also have some type of skit to bring the whole community of the Bahamas something to laugh about,” Pintard said. “Honestly, he is a poet, but he’s what most Bahamians want to be. He will make a great Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture.” For the sport, which is currently hosting its BTC National Championships at Mario’s Bowling and Family Entertainment Palace, Lockhart said they would like to invite Pintard to come into the venue and get a first-hand experience of what the bowlers have to endure to compete at the international level. He said the sport has become so competitive that the amateurs are now competing with the professionals, which means that they have to look at ways of providing more incentives for the bowlers to compete on an even par. Bahamas Cricket Association President Greg Taylor said his only concern is that the new minister will be interested in sports, especially cricket. “Despite what people say about sailing,
MINISTER of Youth, Sports and Culture Michael Pintard with Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling after he was officially sworn in on Monday. Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff cricket is still our national sport and it is the oldest sport in the Bahamas,” Taylor said. “The only sport that is older than cricket is
horse racing and that ended in 1976.
SEE PAGE 3