The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE the inclement weather over the weekend, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations completed its trials for the North and Central American Championships (NACAC) Age Group at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

The team, when selected to travel to Curacao to compete from June 29-30, will comprise of eight members, inclusive of two male and female in the 11-12 pentathlon, which features the long and high jumps, ball throw, 60 metres, 800 (girls) and 1,000 (boys) and 13-14 heptathlon, comprising of the long and high jumps, ball throw, shot put, 60m hurdles, 80m, 1,000 (girls) and 1,200 (boys).

“The performances were extremely well. The kids did, of course, the required amount of events, which was five and seven,” said BAAA’s public relations officer Tonique Williams. “For any advanced athlete, that is a lot of work. What I witnessed out there was a lot of determination and guts. We had some really, really good performances and it really spoke about the type of athletes that we have coming up in the country.”

The trials was pushed back from Friday and got started on Saturday. It finished on Sunday night. The team is now expected to be named sometime this week, but Williams said generally the two top finishers in each category will be given first preferences to the selection process.

“I had the chance to sit some some persons who worked with this team before like past head coach Keno Demeritte and past statistician Bernard Newbold and based on the persons who would have qualified for this team, I think we are in a position to win again. We won twice before and we have been trailing Barbados in the past few times, but if the team is managed right, with the athletes we have to work with, we feel we can win it this year.”

Based on their prformances from the trials, the top 10 performers were as follows:

Girls 11-12 pentathlon

1 - Kennedy Culmer, Golden Eagles, 1,103 points;

2 - Tylar Lightbourn, Extreme Athletics, 1,052 pts;

3 - Raniesh Colebrook, Club Monica, 1,038 pts;

4 - Antiqua Darville, Alliance Athletics, 1,038 pts;

5 - Lakelle Kinteh, Sunblazers, 1,002 pts;

6 - Jasmine Bain, Striders, 978 pt;

7 - Deante Wright, Striders, 977 pts;

8 - Jade Seymour, Striders, 959;

8 - Alyson Taylor, Unattached, 959;

10 - Denika Roach, Striders, 945 pts.

Boys 11-12 pentathlon

1 - Blaize Darling, Fast Forward, 1,358 pts;

2 - Benjamin Clarke, Extreme Athletics, 1,290 pts;

3 - Elijah Walker, Golden Eagles, 1,287 pts;

4 - Romel Russell, Golden Eagles, 1,277 pts;

5 - Tamasio Bullard, Golden Eagles, 1,222 pts;

6 - Nathan Moss, Striders, 1,215 pts;

7 - Shaun Miller, Bahamas Speed Dynamics, 1,161 pts;

8 - Tamiko Taylor, Road Runners, 1,132 pts;

9 - Nathan Burrows, Fast Forward, 1,125 pts;

10 - Raymond Oriakhi, Club Monica, 1,055 pts.

Girls 13-14 heptathlon

1 - Doneisha Anderson, TWD Athletics, 1,772 pts;

2 - Blayre Catalyn, Unattached, 1,685 pts;

3 - Daejah Moss, Striders, 1,638 pts;

4 - Kristia Collie, Alliance Athletics, 1,626 pts;

5 - Patiqua Rolle, Bahamas Speed Dynamics, 1,539 pts;

6 - D’Ajon Jaywardana, Speed Begins, 1,534 pts;

7 - Gaynell Sands, Striders, 1,540 pts;

8 - Charisma Taylor, Club Monica, 1,505 pts;

9 - Tanae Newry, Striders, 1,467 pts;

10 - Patria Symonette, Sunblazers, 1,463 pts.

Boys 13-14 heptathlon

1 - Jonathon Smith, Kenyan Knights, 2,111 pts;

2 - Kairon Bain, Neymour Athletics, 2,071 pts;

3 - Branson Rolle, High Performance, 1,993 pts;

4 - Michael Butler, Jumpers Inc., 1,921 pts;

5 - Christoph Johnson, Xtreme Athletics, 1,919 pts;

6 - Kristin Major, High Performance, 1,874 pts;

7 - Denvaughn Whymns, Club Monica, 1,872 pts;

8 - Michael Stuart, Kenyan Knights, 1,853 pts;

9 - Glen Knowles, Club Monica, 1,843 pts;

10 - Clifford Dean, Road Runners, 1,787 pts.

“The team will be named this week. The way the competition works, the top two qualifiers in each division, barring that there are no reasons why they can’t travel, should be named to the team,” Williams said. “We’ve had problems in the past where kids did not have the proper documentation or they could not be presented in a timely fashion and so those persons who trailed them, were named to the team.”

The Bahamas has finished second to Barbados since 2005 in the biannual championships. However, the Bahamas has won the title twice in 2001 and in 2003. The 2001 championships were held in the Bahamas for the first time at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex in Grand Bahama.

Olympians Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, Raymond Higgs and Shaunae Miller have all participated in the meet in the past. Additionally, this year’s Carifta members Danielle Gibson, Pedyra Seymour and Delano Davis competed in the meet.