The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas will remain in fourth place in the men’s 4 x 400 metre relays and 16th in the final medal standings at the 17th Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.

Team manager Ralf McKinney indicated that at one point, their protest was overruled but, at the end of the day, the organising committee ruled back in favour of Cuba, who will hold onto their silver medal in the final of the relay behind Trinidad & Tobago and ahead of the United States of America, who settled for third.

On Saturday night as the athletic competition came to a close, all three countries past the Bahamas on the anchor leg as 400m hurdles gold medallist Jeffery Gibson started to cramp on the back stretch. The team of LaToy Williams, Michael Mathieu and Alonzo Russell had put the Bahamas out front.

Gibson, however, struggled coming down the stretch and in the final 50m, he started to tighten up as he was caught by Trinidad & Tobago’s Machel Cedeno, Cuba’s Yoandys Lescay and USA’s Kerron Clements. Gibson faded into fourth as the Bahamas crossed the line in 3:00.34. Trinidad got the gold in a season’s best of 2:59.60, Cuba did a season’s best of 2:59.84 for the silver and the USA did 3:00.21 for the bronze.

“The first three legs were great,” Gibson told The Tribune in a brief statement. “When I came to my leg, I was told that I ran too hard which led to me breaking down the last 150m and moving from 1st to 4th. I just didn’t have anything left to hold off the field. It was very disappointing for me. I felt that the guys did really well and ran superbly. As experienced relay runners, they knew what they were doing and how to run a race with high pressure. I’m not sure what I can take away. I’ll just learn from this somehow and learn to run better. I know now that there is always a choice and that I have an option when it comes to my running career.”

McKinney said they lodged their protest because Cuba didn’t submit their lineup for the relay in the specified time and they didn’t show up in the call room to go into the race. He said they actually came from the mixed zone (where the reporters are stationed) and ran onto the track.

“By the time they got there, all of the other teams were there long time,” McKinney said. “When the race was over, I put in the appeal, they took the $100 and they came back to me to return the money and said that Cuba was disqualified. We left there about 1 o’clock this morning (Sunday).

“They decided they were not going to do the medal ceremony until today. I guess the protest committee made their final ruling because after disqualifying Cuba, they put them back into the silver medal spot and we remained in fourth. We protested under the rule that they failed to declare their team and the order that their athletes were going to run.”

Nevertheless, McKinney said he and the management team were happy with the performance of the athletes. He said it was unfortunate that Gibson got cramped up down the stretch. Had he remained healthy throughout the race, McKinney said they would have easily won the gold.

“I told the team members that Trinidad & Tobago and Cuba threw their best at us and they can’t do much with us,” McKinney said. “We will concentrate on the World Relays. LaToy ran like night and day from the open 400m to the first leg of the relay. We won the first three legs hands down with him, Michael and Alonzo.

“I think if Jeffery didn’t tighen up down the stretch, we would have won it. He had a tough meet, running two exceptional rounds in the 400m hurdles for the gold. He did his best on the anchor leg, but just struggled down the stretch. We still didn’t have Chris Brown, Ramon Miller and Steven Gardiner. So we are still confident that we will bounce back when we put it all together for the Worlds.”

McKinney said the women’s 4 x 400m relay team of Lanece Clarke, Christine Amertil, Carmiesha Cox and Katrina Seymour must be commended for their fifth place 3:31.60. The United States won the gold in 3:25.68, Jamaica got the silver in 3:27.27 and Canada won the bronze in a season’s best of 3:27.74. Cuba held of the Bahamas for fourth in 3:31.22.

With their performance, the women moved up to 15th place on the performance list, which will more than secure their berth in the World Championships after they fell short at the IAAF World Relays in Nassau in May.

“They did it without Shaunae being there,” McKinney said. “With her added to the fray will increase our chances of going for a medal and even the possibility of breaking the national record.”

The BAAA was also hoping that both the men’s and women’s 4 x 100m team would book their ticket to Beijing. While the men’s team failed to advance to the final, thus eliminating them from the process, the women are still holding on the final positions to be tabulated when the deadline is completed after the NACAC Championships in Costa Rica August 7-9.

The women’s team of Devynne Charlton, Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson, Tylar Carter and Adanaca Brown ran 44.38 for seventh place. The USA won the gold in a Pan Am record of 42.58, previously held by Jamaica, who did 42.68 for the silver. The bronze went to Canada.

McKinney said if the team had Anthonique Strachan, they would have been able to move up the ladder. Strachan, however, was not available to run after she felt a slight hamstring pull in her left leg and stopped running in lane eight coming off the curve in the final of the 200m. She had to go for an MRI and should get the results before leaving Toronto today.

“I think that kind of hurt the 4 x 1 because they came here to qualify,” McKinney said. “It was almost the same situation with the men’s 4 x 1 team. Of course, Shavez Hart has had a long collegiate season for Texas A&M and he wasn’t able to go after the 100m. He’s alright.”

Qualifying outright at the games was Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands, who is on his road to recovery after undergoing surgery in London in 2012 to repair a dislocated knee during the final of the men’s triple jump at the Olympic Games. Sands, 33, battled back to secure the silver medal with a leap of 16.99m or 55-9 between a pair of Cubans.

In the men’s high jump, McKinney said national champion Ryan Ingraham experienced some problems with his tennis, which had to be taped up after his first jump in the competition because there wasn’t another pair available. He eventually finished sixth as defending champion Donald Thomas relinquished his crown, but still came away with the bronze medal.

Thomas, who decided at the last minute that he would be attending the games, cleared 2.28m. Winning the gold was Canadian’s Derek Drouin with a season’s best of 2.37m (7-9 1/4). Mike Mason, also of Canada, got the silver with 2.31m (7-7). Ingraham did 2.25m (7-4 1/2).