The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) has selected the team of Veronica Bonimy, Holly Rolle and Jennaya Hield to represent the Bahamas at the North American and Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships this weekend in Mandeville, Jamaica.

The team, managed by Stephen Murray and coached/chaperoned by Sherry Francis, left town yesterday to compete in the championship that is scheduled to take place 2pm Saturday at the Manchester Golf Club. There won’t be any men represented as none of the top competitors in the 16-19 age group were available to travel.

“These girls are our 1,500m and 3,000m potential competitors for Carifta, so we wanted to give them the exposure by competing in the Cross Country Championships,” Murray said. “These are our best female distance runners since Hughnique Rolle moved up from the junior division. So we’re hoping that they will get the opportunity to follow in her footsteps.”

Hughnique Rolle represented the Bahamas three times at the NACAC Championships. She was also the top female distance runner at the Carifta Games those same years.

While the NACAC Cross Country is scheduled for Jamaica this weekend, the BAAA is preparing to host the Carifta Games at the new Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium March 28 to April 1. Murray said the three females on the cross country team have the potential to lead the charge for the Bahamas in the distance races at Carifta.

“We haven’t had that many meets so far this year, but we got a chance to see Jennaya and Holly at the T-Bird Flyers Track Meet that was held in Grand Bahama and they both look ready to compete,” Murray said. “We are confident that all three of them will perform very well.”

Francis, like her brother Murray who both represented the Bahamas at the NACAC Championships, said she’s excited about the team’s chances this weekend.

“The team is a junior one, so we are just going for the experience,” she said. “We are hoping that we can develop the distance running programme by taking these young ladies to conmpete. We just want to see where they are going into the Carifta Games. But we are confident that they will all do very well.”

All three competitors, making their first national team, are excited about the trip.

• Jennaya Hield

“My expectation is to go and to perform at the best of my ability,” said the 17-year-old 12th grader at Tabernacle Baptist Academy out of Grand Bahama.

In preparation for the championships, Bonimy said she has been “practising hard in the afternoons and doing some light running in the mornings. I feel good. I feel really good. I’m ready for the competition.”

• Veronica Bonimy

“I really don’t know what to expect, but based on the times that I heard the girls ran last year, I expect to go there and compete very well against them,” said 18-year-old 2011 graduate from St John’s College, who is now studying engineering at the College of the Bahamas.

For her preparation for the championships, Bonimy said she has been running with coach Murray “so I know I’m ready for the competition because he is a man. He’s definitely the best person to push me. I am really looking forward to seeing how well I can compete over there.”

• Holly Rolle

“I just want to do well,” said the 17-year-old 12th grader at St Augustine’s College.

Rolle said having her older sister Hughnique Rolle to guide her, she’s hoping to rely on the experience she gained in the past to help propel her.

“She’s told me how difficult it was for her at the beginning. The first time she didn’t beat anybody. The second time she beat one person. But the third time she beat a whole team,” Rolle said. “I hope I can do better than she did on her first trip. I hope that all of us as a team success.”

The team is scheduled to return home on Sunday.