The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GLASGOW, Scotland — The Bahamas finally got a women’s 4 x 400 metre relay team into a final of a major international competition. But the end result wasn’t what many had anticipated.

Running the pop off leg, Christine Amertil suffered a muscle pull and that hampered the rest of the team as Shaunae Miller, Lanece Clarke and Miriam Byfield could do no better than seventh place.

Their time: three minutes and 34.86 seconds. Amertil, the 34-year-old veteran from Southeastern Louisiana University via RM Bailey, limped off the track and had to be escorted in a wheelchair for medical attention after running a split of 54.3.

In opting not to run in the final of the women’s 4 x 100m that followed after she ran in the preliminaries, Miller stepped up to join the quarter-milers and turned in a split of 51.3 as she pulled the Bahamas from seventh to fifth.

The rest of the way, Clarke did her split of 53.93, but the Bahamas had dropped back to seventh. They remained in that position as Byfield ended up running her split of 55.19.

“Today, our plan was just to go out there and give it our best effort,” said the 26-year-old Byfield from Grand Bahama.

“We didn’t come out with a medal, but we did the best that we could. I think after Christine got hurt running her leg, that put us behind.

“But with each leg, we tried our best to get back into it. Of course, with the weather, it took some away from us. But we are still healthy and we got the baton around.”

And Byfield said she was glad that she finally got to team up with Miller to run in a relay.

Miller, a seventh place finisher in the 400m, said although she was nursing her hamstring, she wanted to provide some spark for the 4 x 4 team, just as she did for the 4 x 1 in the preliminaries.

“I just want to thank God for allowing me to go out there and to come back healthy,” said Miller, a St Augustine’s College graduate who attends Auburn University while she competes on the professional circuit.

“I’m trying to help out the team as much as I can. We knew we needed the extra leg on the 4 x 4, so I didn’t mind running it. The girls got through to the final in the 4 x 1, but despite the weather, our 4 x 4 went out there and gave it our best. I just wanted to run. It felt good to be there with a 4 x 4 team.”

As for Clarke, a 26-year-old graduate of McKendree University, she felt they all did their best.

“Despite not getting a medal, we did our best and that is all we could ask for, our best,” she said. “I think we had a pretty good team out there. We did the best we could under the circumstances.”

Skakeitha Henfield, 31, ran in the preliminaries, but was replaced by Miller in the final.