The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE goal was to get all four relay teams qualified for the IAAF World Championships over the weekend. But team manager Philippa Willie said they were more surprised that the 4 x 400 teams didn’t make it and the 4 x 100m teams did at the IAAF/BTC World Relays at Thomas A Robinson National Stadium on Sunday.

This weekend, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations will be sending the two 4 x 400m relay teams to compete in the 123rd Penn Relays Carnival in Philadelphia in the match-up with the USA versus the World in a bid for the men to improve on their current time that is ranked at No.9 and the women, whose time is pegged at No.11.

“I will be expecting a little more from our 4 x 4 relay teams,” said Willie, who will be travelling along with head coach Fritz Grant, assistant coach Sidney Cartwright and understudy coach Ravanno Ferguson.

Ramon Miller, who didn’t compete at the World Relays, will be added to the men’s team that will be minus Steven Gardiner, but including Michael Mathieu, Elroy McBride, Andretti Bain and Demetrius Pinder.

“Unfortunately, Ramon ran a little too late for us to consider his time for the selection to the World Relays. But we have added him to the team going to Penn,” she said. “We feel with him on the team, they will do very well.”

The men’s 4 x 4 team will compete against the USA, Botswana, Guyana and Jamaica. The USA won the A final for the gold medal over silver medallists Botswana, while Jamaica was third as they all booked their tickets to London. The Bahamas was fifth in the B final, but Guyana didn’t field a team.

Like Gardiner, Shaunae Miller-Uibo will not be making the trip. The two, along with veteran Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, are all sponsored by Adidas and their athletes are committed to competing in the Drake Relays at the same time.

Without Miller-Uibo, the women’s team will add Lanece Clarke and V’Alonee Robinson, who both didn’t compete in the relays. They will join Christine Amertil, Tynia Gaither, Anthonique Strachan and Rashan Brown.

“We won’t have Shaunae, but based on the team we have selected, I think they will also do very well.”

The Bahamas will face the United States, Botswana, Jamaica and Nigeria in the women’s 4 x 4 relay. The USA won the gold at the World Relays in the A final with Jamaica third, Botswana sixth and Nigeria seventh, having all qualified for London. The Bahamas placed fourth in their heat, won by Nigeria, but opted not to contest the B final.

The Bahamas has also been invited to participate in the women’s sprint medley (two 100m, one 200m and a 400m) and therefore, Willie said they included a couple of sprinters on the team to ensure that the team is well represented.

In the sprint medley, the Bahamas will face two teams from the USA, the British Virgin Islands and Jamica.

The sprint medley was not contested at the World Relays.

“It’s ironic that the two teams that qualified at the World’s were not the first times that we expected to qualify,” she said. “We expected the 4 x 4s to qualify. For the most part, our 4 x 4 have more depth and we are certain that they will both qualify, giving us a chance to run all four teams at the World Championships.”

The IAAF World Championships is scheduled for August in London, England and there is a cut of period at the end of June for the final 16 teams to secure their berths.The top eight spots will be occupied from the top eight teams to finish their event.

The team ofDevine Parker, Brianne Bethel, Tylar Carter and Tynia Gaither ran 44.01 for sixth place in the women’s 4 x 1, while the men’s team ofWarren Fraser, Shavez Hart, Cliff Resias and Adrian Griffith ran 39.18 for third place in the B final.

However, as a result of Canada, France and the Netherlands not finishing in the A final, Trinidad & Tobago, Germany and the Bahamas, the first three finishers in order in the B final, were moved up to complete the top eight qualifying spot.

Willie said there are a number of athletes who are competing on the collegiate scene, who were not given the time of to come home and compete in the relays. So she feels that before the summer, they will accomplish their goal of getting the four teams to London.

“I think we are in a pretty good spot, so we will do very well,” said Willie of the team heading to Penn’s on Thursday, compete on Saturday and return home on Sunday. “We have a benchmark where they have to work from, so we just have to get it together.”

As the manager of the World Relay team, Willie said she was really impressed with the level of commitment that she got from all of the competitors on Team Bahamas.

“We had three veterans on the team in Christine (Amertil), Demetrius (Pinder) and Michael (Mathieu),” she said. “We had a very young team led by Shaunae (Miller) and Steven (Gardiner) and they performed very well.

“Once our athletes can stay healthy and we can keep them happy, they will be around for a long time.”

Willie noted that it wasn’t all rosey in the camp, but they got through their difficulties.

“I know there were some athletes who had some issues with the coaches, but I think the athletes have to learn how to compromise. The coaches are there for a reason,” Willie pointed out.

“They see things that we, as athletes, don’t see. The coaches have a job to do and the athletes have a job to do and that is to perform.”

As for Miller-Uibo, Willie said there was some concern as to whether or not she would have competed in the 4 x 4 relay, but she said she went out and gave it 100 percent on the first leg.

“We got her to run it and she gave it her all,” Willie said. “It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have the depth to be able to qualify, but it happened. “

All things considered, Willie said she was happy to endorse Miller-Uibo to run with Gardiner, Strachan and Mathieu as the quartet went on to win the historic mixed gender 4 x 400m relay in 3:25.49.

In the process, the team set a world leading time of for the national and championship records in winning the country’s first gold and only medal in the three editions of the championships.

“I want to congratulate all of our teams, who competed in the World Relays, especially the men and women 4 x 1 teams,” she summed up. “We just have to maintain our times and we should have all four teams in London.”