The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

PERRY Adderley turned in another CARIFTA Games qualifying performance with his double dose of victory as a group of field coaches hosted their second Throwers All-Comers Meet on Saturday.

The meet was held at the College of the Bahamas as coaches Corrington Maycock, Bradley Cooper and Ronald Cartwright took advantage of the absence of a track and field meet at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

Adderley, who had already qualified in the previous meet a couple weeks ago in the shot put in the boys’ under-18 division, added the discus to his participation in Martinique with his winning throw of 42.32 metres.

His nearest rival was Malik Stuart of Throwers Inc. with 38.00m.

Deondre Rutherford of RC Athletics was third with 37.40m. “I was very pleased with my performance because it was a PR and a CARIFTA qualifier, so I really want to thank God, my parents and my coaches for helping me to achieve this goal,” he said.

“I started out a little shaky, but as the meet went on, I was able to do what I had to do.”

The 16-year-old grade 11 student at St Augustine’s College also won the shot put with a heave of 14.66m with Stuart taking second with 14.07m. Terricko Stevens of Throwers Inc. was third with 12.67m.

There were no other CARIFTA qualifiers in the meet, but Dominique Cooper (Queen’s College), Keenah Ross (RC Athletics), Sheriya Ferguson (College of the Bahamas), Ashley Oembler (College of the Bahamas), Avery Adderley (Road Runners) and Edward Kemp (RC Athletics) were among the multiple winners.

Although she just competed in one event, Desiree Lockhart of RC Athletics had a strong showing in the girls’ under-18 shot put with a winning throw of 10.01m. She won over Jessica Johnson of Throwers Inc. with 9.96m and Tanas Miller of CI Gibson with 8.42m.

“I could have done because my PR is over 11 metres, but I was a little weak today, so I just gave it my best and came out first,” said Lockhart, a 15-year-old 12th grader at CR Walker. “This is just my first year competing and I really want to go to Martinique for the Carifta Games.”

Also looking to make the trip to Martinique for the games over the Easter holiday weekend is Edward Kemp, a 15-year-old 9th grader at Queen’s College. He won both the under-16 boys’ javelin (40.35m) and the discus (38.95m), but was beaten out in the shot put (12.78m) by his RC Athletics’ teammate Ramache Sands (13.17m).

“It was great, but I got an injury on my thumb and so I wasn’t able to push the shot put off like I should have,” he said. “I still have to work on my push, but I am confident that by CARIFTA, if I get to go, I will be ready to compete.”

And although she finished her junior eligibility last year, 19-year-old Ashley Oembler said the meet was good for her to work on all of her throws as she continues to compete for the College of the Bahamas.

She was the lone competitor in the open women’s shot put (9.49m) and discus (37.34m).

“Today was an off day. I could have done better. I have a lot more stuff to work on, mainly with the discus and shot put,” she said.

“But it’s good to have these meets because sometimes when they have the meets at the sports centre, we are rushed to get through our events. In these meets, there’s more emphasis on us as we compete.”

Meet director Corrington Maycock said they had anticipated more competitors, but they were satisfied that the competition was on par with the first meet that they had.

“Perry Adderley continues to improve. He’s progressing as the season goes and we have another young man, Ranache Sands, who came out here not having a coach and established himself,” Maycock said.

“Also, Desiree Lockhart continues to improve. But all of the big guns as far as the females are concerned, didn’t compete either because of injuries or they had other obligations like a funeral we know some of them were involved in.”

Maycock said they are looking forward to putting on another Throwers All-Comers Meet on May 7 when they hope to honour Ronald Cartwright for his many years of service as a field’s coach.

Cartwright, a coach of Maycock when he competed, said he was pleased to see all the throwers getting enthused about competing in their own meet.

“This is what we need to get the throwing events back to where it was,” he said. “We need to be doing this every other week or every other three weeks. We have some very young throwers in this programme and they can only get better with the more meets that we have for them.”

If they can continue to develop the competitors through this programme, Cartwright said he doesn’t see why in two years, the Bahamas should not be able to regain its prominence on the field as the most dominant country at the CARIFTA Games.

And double national shot put and discus thrower Bradley Cooper, who has won medals for the Bahamas from the Carifta Games to the Commonwealth Games, said so far they have gotten two extra meets in and they are seeing the progress of their athletes.

“It’s helping the development of the throwers and we are seeing them coming out and really enjoying their events, which is the most important thing,” he said. “We’re about 60 per cent where we need to be. But we need some more coaches to come out and work with the throwers.

Right now we have about 6-10 coaches working with the throwers, but we have close to 50 throwers who were out here today and it’s just impossible to concentrate on all of them.”