The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MEN’S defending 400 metre hurdles champion Jeffery Gibson and swimmer Laura Morley were the only two Bahamians to advance out of the preliminary rounds in both track and field and swimming as the XVIII Pan American Games got started for those two disciplines yesterday in Lima, Peru.

National record holder Ken Mullings is sitting in fifth place with 3,935 points after the first five events were completed in the men’s decathlon.

Damian Warner from Canada holds the lead with 4,499, followed closely by his compatriot Pierce LePage with 4,418.

Mullings, 22, got sixth in his heat of the 100m in 11.09 for 841 points. He had a season’s best of 7.07m for third place in his flight of the long jump for 830 points. That was followed by a 5th place in the shot put with a heave of 12.86m for 659 points. In the high jump, he was second in his flight with 2.03m for 831 points and he closed out the first day in the 400m for second place in 50.88 for 774 points.

The final day of competition today will feature the 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin and 1,500m. Mullings holds the national record with 7,427 points that he produced in Coral Gables, Florida, April 12-13 at the University of Miami Hurricane Alumni Invitational.

Gibson, the Grand Bahamian national record holder in 49.17, is back to defend his title he won in Toronto, Canada, by getting third in the last of two heats in 50.09 seconds for the seventh fastest qualifying time. Brazil’s Alison Alves dos Santos won the heat in 49.74. Juander Santos of the Dominican Republic had the fastest qualifying time of 49.44 in winning heat one that featured Bahamian Andre Colebrook, who was seventh in 51.76 for 11th place overall. Gibson, who will turn 28 on August 15, will contest the final on Thursday at 6:15pm.

In the women’s one-lap race over the 10 flights of hurdles, Katrina Seymour ended up 14th place overall. She was seventh in the last of two heats in the semi-finals in 1:00.71.

Grand Bahamian Brianna Bethel, the flag carrier in the women’s 100m semi-finals, had to settle for sixth place in the second of three heats in a time of 11.76 for 13th place overall. Warren Fraser, the only member competing in the men’s 100m, failed to advance after he could only muster a sixth place in the second of three heats in 10.62. That placed him 20th overall.

Over at the swim complex, Laura Morley touched the wall in fourth place in her heat of the women’s 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:11.28 with a split of 33.14 for 11th place overall. She was scheduled to swim in the B final, but no results were available up to press time last night.

And in the men’s 100m breaststroke, William Tyler Russell was eighth in his heat of the men’s 100m breaststroke in 1:07.67 for 26th place overall. Both athletics and swimming will be back in action today.