The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE newly formed RK Athletics quartet of Maverick Bowleg, Cliff Resias, Ashley Riley and Andre Colebrook returned to the McNeese State Cowboy Relays 2019/Bob Hayes LA Challenge as a professional team where they broke the meet 4 x 400m metre record they set as collegians for Southeastern Louisiana.

At the McNeese State University outdoor track in Lake Charles, Los Angeles on Saturday, the team ran three minutes and 09.77 seconds to pull away from their alma mater, SE Louisiana, who was second in 3:12.73.

In the process, the quarter erased their meet record of 3:10.61 that they set as a team at SE Louisiana in 2017, running splits of 47.9 for Bowleg on pop off, 48.5 for sprinter Resias on second, 46.9 for Riley on third and 46.2 for Colebrook on anchor.

Coach Bernard Newbold, who put together the Bahamian team this year, said after turning in a solid week of practice, the RKA quartet was gearing up to compete in the sprint medley, but opted to go after their meet record

“The guys didn’t really have a great push. They had a push at the start, but after that, they were all on their own from there,” Newbold said. “It’s just a start for us. “Our goal this year is to run 3:05 as a unit, so this is a great start for us, excellent start.” Colebrook said the RKA performance was just a taste of what to expect from the quartet as they establish themselves as three legitimate contenders (with the exception of Resias), for a spot on the Bahamas men’s 4 x 400m relay team for the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar in September.

“We just wanted to put down a time and go out there and execute. That was the main plan,” Colebrook said. “We just wanted to put down a good time and get ready for our spot on the national relay team this year.

“We’ve been training hard, so it was just for us to go out there and run. We just want to qualify for the World Championships. I also want to do it in the 400 and 400m hurdles, get to the final and compete for a medal.”

Riley said it was good to get back to the meet and re-establish themselves.

“It was a good experience. It was an unexplainable experience,” he said. “People got a chance to see us again competing in better shape than we were before. So it was good.”

This weekend, Riley said he’s looking forward to competing in Lafayette, Louisiana where he will run in the 400m.

“I ran 47.02 last week, so anything better than that would be good,” Riley said. “Right now I’m just trying to stay a healthy pace, so anything around that area would be good again.”

And Bowleg said it was a lot of fun running in the relay. “This was our first one outdoors, so we set the trend early,” he said. “We were hoping to go 3:08, but we are satisfied with the performance today (Saturday). The chemistry is up there, so we are very confident handing the baton off.

“It’s good to be with someone you know and who you have been practicing with for years, so the chemistry is real good. We have another Bahamian 400m runner training at Southeaster now, so we might run him in a 4 x 400m relay too.”

As he also opens up his 400m campaign in Lafeyette, Bowleg said he intends to run a sub-47 before he gets ready for the Florida Relays where he hopes that he can really show his fitness level.

Bowleg tested his speed by running in the event as well, placing 25th overall in 11.04.

Resias, on the other hand, was just as elated to be a part of the RKA quartet.

“It was a good experience, basically coming from indoors with my team at Southeastern and compete with those three guys,” Resias said. “It was truly a pleasure. We are looking forward to the World Relays and the other big events coming up. That is what we are working towards. From what we saw today, we still have some things to work on, but other than that, it’s going good, practice is good and we should be on our A game when it’s time to compete.”

According to Resias, there are a lot of expectations for RKA and they will do some big things.

Resias also competed in the open 100m in his season opener where he got second overall in 10.44 after he got left in the blocks and had to make a great comeback at the end.

“My goal right now is to do sub-20 and run at least 10.0,” he said. “Our 4 x 4 is coming together. We’re looking to at least run 3:03 or faster. We are just getting started.”