The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GLASGOW, Scotland — Michael Mathieu won his heat and Teray Smith got second as they both advanced out of the preliminaries of the men’s 200 metres at the 20th Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.

The duo will be back today with Smith running out of heat one in lane two at 1:25 pm EST and Mathieu in heat two in lane three at 1:32 pm for a shot at qualifying for the final that will be ran at 4:10 pm EST.

The first two in each of the three heats and the next two fastest times will make up the field. If either or both of them qualify, it will be the first time that the Bahamas will be represented in the final of all three men’s sprint events from the 100 to the 400m.

Warren Fraser got the celebratory party for the athletic team when he became the first Bahamian male sprinter, since the late Thomas A Robinson won a silver in 1966, to book his ticket to the final. He was followed by the duo of Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown and LaToy Williams, who both advanced to the men’s 400m final. However, Brown had to withdraw with a stomach virus, while Williams ended up placing fifth.

And for good measure, Jeffery Gibson also clinched his spot in the 400m hurdles final during his preliminaries on Wednesday.

“It was good. Smooth. I won my heat, so that was all I was trying to do. Overall, it was good,” said Mathieu, who is still looking for his first individual medal at any of the top three international meets, inclusive of the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Olympic Games.

“I’m just trying to get through the heats smoothly and don’t waste too much energy. It was also good to see Teray get in. Hopefully we can both be in the final.”

Smith, the youngest member of the Bahamian male athletic team at age 21, was even more thrilled about his debut at a major international senior meet for the Bahamas.

“My goal was to be in the top two as an automatic qualifier,” said Smith, a student of Auburn University where he is being coached by Bahamian Henry Rolle. “I just wanted to execute and get into the final. I’ve been running good all year and I know I still have more in the tank, so I’m just going to go out there and put it all on the line.”

The Bahamas has never won a medal in the 200m final at the Commonwealth Games, nor the 400m hurdles. Gibson is hoping that just as the sprinters go for history in the deuce, he will also be able to do the same when he goes over the 13 sets of hurdles in the one-lap race. His second-place finish in the first of three heats in 49.66 for 6th overall has secured him lane eight in the final slated for tonight.

“I haven’t ran a race for a while. With that being my first race since the nationals, I think it was pretty good,” said the national champion from Grand Bahama. “I wished I had a meet or two before coming here, but I still think I will be ready (for the final).”

During his heat, it showed that he lacked that competitive edge as the 6-foot, 4-inch quarter-miler was caught on the back stretch and had to make it up on the final stagger coming onto the home stretch.

“I just need to work on my finish so that I can be right there when everybody makes that last push,” he said. “I’m coming back in the final to do my very best. That’s all I can ask for.”

On the women’s side, Grand Bahamian Nivea Smith advanced to today’s semifinal of the women’s 200 metres after she placed third in her heat of the preliminaries in 23.48. The winning time was 23.14 by Schillonie Calvert of Jamaica.

“It was good. I felt I didn’t get out of the block too fast, but that is normal. It was still a good race because I made it to the next round,” Smith said. “I’ve been working on my start, but I guess I just needed to get the cobwebs out of my system. I haven’t ran since nationals, but I hope to run better in the semifinal.”

The semifinal is set for today at 1:07 pm EST when Smith will run out of lane eight in the first of three heats. Included in her heat is 100 metre champion Blessing Okagbare, who had the fastest qualifying time of 22.99, Jamaican Anneisha McLaughlin in four and England’s Jodie Williams in lane five.

The first two finishers in each heat and the next two fastest losers will advance to the final at 3:45 pm.

By the way, ‘Golden Girl’ Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie still holds the games record of 22.20 that she set on July 29, 2002 in Manchester, England where she starred as the double champion in the 100 and 200 and was on the women’s victorious 4 x 100m relay team.

Also yesterday, Teshon Adderley provided some spark for the women’s middle distance running programme when she competed in the 800m preliminaries. After getting left in the last lap, she had to settle for sixth place in 2:08.24, but it wasn’t fast enough to get her into the final.

The 21-year-old didn’t even realise that she had qualified for the games when the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations officials called her and told her to pack her bags to come to Glasgow.

“It was pretty good. I wished I had ran it better. I had a break after nationals, so it was good to come here on such short notice and run 2:08. It could have been 2:12,” said the recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, who was preparing to head to Canada for the NACAC Championships in Kamloops, British Colombia, Canada, August 8-10.

Shy of her personal best of 2:06, the former CR Walker standout now coached by Mike Armbrister said she came here to represent the Bahamas to the best of her ability, rather than sitting down at home not doing anything.

“It was an amazing experience,” she said. “The competition out here was really good. For my first time at a meet this big, I thought it was a very good experience.

“The crowd was ridiculous, but I love it. It was just a great experience. I knew I did’t want to get out too hard. If I could run 56-57 on the first lap, I knew I would be right there. But it kind of slipped my mind because everyone was on a roll. So I just went out there to run like I know how and it was a little too late.”

As she heads to the NACAC meet, Adderley said she will definitely not forget the experience she gained here. She is confident that it will help her to do even better in Canada.