The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER watching Jeffery Gibson secure the Bahamas’ first athletic medal at the 17th Pan American Games, sprinter Anthonique Strachan goes after another in the women’s 200 metres today as she leads a strong contingent of athletes competing on a busy day in Toronto, Canada.

While Strachan clinched her berth in the final after she was the only one to survive the semi-final yesterday at the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Athletics Stadium, the Bahamas will be competing in the finals of both the men’s triple jump and the women’s long jump as well as both the men’s and women’s 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 metre relays.

Strachan, 21, advanced out of the first of three heats of the 200 semis yesterday with a third place finish in 22.79 seconds as she trailed American Kaylin Whitney, who won in 22.68 and her former Jamaican training partner Kerron Stewart, who got second in a season’s best of 22.72.

In the last of the semis, however, Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson ran 23.03, but it was only good enough for sixth place as she failed to advance. Ecuador’s Angela Tenorio, the silver medallist in the 100m, won in 22.59 in the fastest of the two heats. Jamaica’s Simone Facey was second in 22.64 and American Kyra Jefferson got third in 22.65. The other two spots in the final also came out of the heat with Canadian Kimberly Hyacinthe taking fourth in 22.81 and Trinidad’s Reyare Thomas fifth in 22.88.

Elroy McBride, the only competitor in the men’s 200m, didn’t make it out of the preliminaries as he finished seventh in his heat in 21.05.

Today’s final in the evening will have Strachan running out of lane eight, just ahead of Jefferson.

In the morning session today, national record holder Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands will be the fourth of 15 competitors on the runway in the men’s triple jump final. National champion Lathone Collie-Minns will be the 14th competitor. The event is a straight final so there was no qualifying round.

Also in today’s morning session, the coaching staff of Rudy Ferguson and Rupert Gardiner will select the quartet out of the pool of Christine Amertil, Miriam Byfield, Lanece Clarke, Carmiesha Cox, Shakeitha Henfield and Katrina Seymour to run in the first of two heats of the women’s 4 x 400m relay semi-final. They will be in lane four, sandwiched between Venezuela in three and Puerto Rico in five.

And the pool of Andretti Bain, Jeffery Gibson, Michael Mathieu, Ramon Miller, Alonzo Russell and LaToy Williams will make up the men’s 4 x 400m team that will run out of the second heat with Trinidad & Tobago in four, Cuba in five and Costa Rica in seven.

In addition to Strachan in the 200m final in the evening session, Bianca Stuart will be the 13th out of 15 competitors in the women’s long jump, which is also a straight final.

The day will close out with the Bahamas running the second semi-final of the women’s 4 x 100m. The pool is comprised of Adanaca Brown, Tylar Carter, Devynne Charlton, Carmiesha Cox, Sheniqua Ferguson and Anthonique Strachan. Brazil is in lane four, Cuba in five, Trinidad & Tobago in six and Ecuador in seven.

The men’s 4 x 100 team, comprising of the combo of Johnathon Farquharson, Warren Fraser, Shavez Hart, Elroy McBride and Teray Smith, will compete in the last of two semis. Also in the heat are the Dominican Republic in two, Cuba in three, Barbados in five, Trinidad & Tobago in six and Brazil in seven.

Team manager Ralf McKinney said all of the athletes are in good spirits and are looking forward to making their presence felt on what will be a busy day. However, he said there are some concerns with Shavez Hart and Ramon Miller, who are both undergoing some treatment from the team’s medical staff of Dr Rickey Davis, Dr Jennifer Davis and Michelle Roach.

He noted that if they are not fully prepared to run today, the staff will continue to work on them to get them ready for the finals on Saturday, should the teams all qualify.

While the finals of all four relays will take place on Saturday, the only other event left for the Bahamas will be the men’s high jump. Donald Thomas is the defending Pan Am champion and Ryan Ingraham is the national champion.