The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHAT a difference an international meet has been for Olympic swimmer Joanna Evans.

In her second appearance at the Commonwealth Games Down Under in the Gold Coast in Australia in April, Evans was quite disappointed that she didn’t get to perform at the best of her ability.

Now the face of swimming for the Bahamas in the retirement this year of Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Evans had her best performance in the final of the women’s 400 metre freestyle but she just barely missed getting on the podium with a fourth-place finish. She vowed then that she would return to the University of Texas and get prepared for the Central American and Caribbean Games. This part week, she lived up to the expectations and literally dominated the competition.

As the leader of the Bahamas’ six-member team in Barranquilla, Colombia, Evans highlighted her 21st birthday celebrations on Wednesday by winning five medals – three gold and two silver – for the best individual performance ever produced by a Bahamian in any sport at any one competition.

At those major international events like the CAC, Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games, it’s so refreshing to see our athletes in another sport, other than track and field, excel at such a high level.

Evans has proven that swimming is continuing to make its presence felt, albeit, the executives, coaches and parents of the Bahamas Swimming Federation, would be quick to point out that they don’t get the proper recognition for their swimmers.

We congratulate Evans and the rest of the team, including Albury Higgs, the other medallist, who helped to put the Bahamas at No.9 on the medal chart going into the rest of the games.

We look forward to seeing how well the rest of Team Bahamas will perform, especially the men’s softball and men’s basketball teams.

This is the first time that the Bahamas will have two team disciplines participate in the same games at the same time.

The men’s basketball team, coached by Quintin ‘Three Ounce’ Hall from Grand Bahama, is coming off a hard-fought series in the FIBA Qualifier for the World Cup.

Although that team only won its last game with NBA second year guard Chavano Rainier ‘Buddy’ Hield making an appearance, there are some major changes to the make-up.

So with only a few of the players from the FIBA World Cup Qualifier making the team for the CAC Games, Hall is still quite confident that the squad put together by the Bahamas Basketball Federation can get the job done on the big stage.

Likewise, we’re also looking with keen interest on what the men’s softball team, managed by Perry Seymour, will do. This team is also going through a transformation with Alcott Forbes and Lyle Sawyer from Abaco leading their charge. It’s a little disappointing that some of the top competitors in track and field will not be making the trip to Colombia due to the quota that the Bahamas has received.

But with Evans and swimming already setting the pace, we will be watching to see how well the rest of the Bahamian contingent can continue the trend that has been set so far.

And we wish all of the other competitors all of the best as the games continue through August 3. Again, congratulations to Evans and Higgs and the rest of the Bahamian swim team – Laura Morley, Margaret Albury, Izaak Bastian, N’Nyhn Fernander and Kohen Kerr managed by Jeff Slater and coached by Rochelle Bastian – for a job well done.