The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE RC Athletics Club hosted the first throwers’ meet for the year on Saturday at the College of the Bahamas playing field and, according to veteran head coach Ronald Cartwright, the performances were exactly what they anticipated.

“The turnout wasn’t bad and the performances weren’t bad,” Cartwright said. “We had a CARIFTA qualifier, but it wasn’t verified by the BACO (Bahamas Association of Certified Officials) when she came. But overall, it was a very good meet and everything went very well.”

The athletes who participated competed in the discus, shot put and javelin in the under-6, under-18 and open categories for both men and women. The meet and the others to follow are designed to get the throwers qualified for the 2016 CARIFTA Games in Grenada over the Easter holiday weekend.

Unfortunately, the results of the meet were not available.

“This gives us a guideline as to where our throwers are and one of the things we have been trying to do is to get six throws at the various meets, but they only give them three and four throws,” Cartwright said. “Today, every athlete who went in the circle got six throws.

“Six throws is actually what you get at the big meets, so that is what we wanted to give them. At the big meets, athletes have gotten the gold on their sixth and final throw, so that is what they need. As a whole, everything went very well. This is what we need to keep our throwers in shape.”

Dawn Johnson, a coach with Club Monica, said it’s still early in the season so the meet helps tremendously.

“We had one competitor who went over the CARIFTA-qualifying mark, but it wasn’t verified and we had a couple of other athletes who came close to the standards,” she said. “Hopefully by the Club Monica Track Meet and the Star Trackers Meet, we expect to have a number of athletes making the standard.”

Johnson said the throwers get in their six throws, they develop some camaraderie and the coaches are there to help them out, which makes a lot of difference.

One of the athletes who hope to benefit from the throwers’ meet is Queen’s College standout Edward Kemp.

“In the javelin, it wasn’t too bad, but I felt I could have done better,” he said. “The discus was okay. I’m looking forward to doing very well in the shot put. Depending on the circumstances with the weather, I know that I can qualify for the CARIFTA Games.”

The 16-year-old 11th grader is eager to make another trip to CARIFTA this year after he represented the Bahamas for the first time last year in St Kitts and Nevis.