The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

On the strength of a gold medal from Keyezra Thomas, a silver from Keely Deveaux and a pair of bronze from Jamiah Nabbie and Kenny Moxey Jr, the Bahamas emerged as the overall champions of the North American, Central American and Caribbean Age Group Championships.

The Bahamas accumulated a total of 26,787 points over the two days of competition in Managua, Nicaragua, on Friday and Saturday. Nicaragua was the closest to the Bahamas in second with 25,125 points. Costa Rica came in third with 25,097.

A total of eight countries participated with Aruba fourth with 21,178, British Virgin Islands fifth with 13,840, El Salvador sixth with 10,017, US Virgin Islands seventh with 5,422 and Honduras bringing up the rear with 2,499.

The Bahamas won the under-13 girls’ pentathlon or a combination of five events on the track and the field with 5,166 points, got second in the under-15 heptathlon or seven events with 7,050 and second in the boys’ under-15 division with 9,207. In the under-13 boys’ division, the Bahamas was fourth with 5,364.

Grand Bahamian Clarita Hall, who replaced Kino Demeritte as the manager after he couldn’t travel at the last minute, thanked God for the athletes’ performances.

“The team exceeded my expectations. They went into the competition motivated and competed exceptionally well,” said Hall, who was assisted by Kenny Moxey Sr, Kenrid Munroe and Holly Riley- Woodside from Andros.

“Our athletes recorded personal records in several of their events.”

Thomas’ victory came in the under-13 girls’ division with 2,616 points, while Deveaux trailed her for the silver with 2,550 points.

Emily Alexandra Valverde Perez, of Costa Rica, got the bronze with 2,438.

Nabbie clinched her bronze in the girls’ under- 15 division with 3,560 points and was followed by Phebe Thompson in fourth with 3,490 points.

The British Virgin Islands’ Jah Kyla Morton (4,198) and A’Sia McMaster (3,745) got the silver and bronze respectively.

Moxey Jr captured his bronze in the under-15 boys’ division with 4,729 points.

Demian Brice was fourth with 4,478 points.

Nicaragua’s Jean Carlos Soza won the gold with 4,939 points and Devner Jose Lopez Ruiz got silver with 4.853 points.

The only division the Bahamas didn’t medal in was the boys’ under-13 pentathlon division after Kamron Henfield had to settle for fourth place with 2,804 points with Jonathon Higgs coming in eighth with 2,560 points.

Higgs was a late replacement for George Nottage, who was unable to travel.

The British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica and Nicaragua claimed the gold, silver and bronze respectively.

Under-13 girls triumph

Over the two days in the individual events they competed in, it was the Keyezra Thomas and Keely Deveaux show as they battled it out to determine the top two spots.

Thomas put the icing on her victory on Saturday by securing the 800 metres, the final event of their competition, in two minutes and 36.66 seconds. Deveaux was a distant seventh place in 3:00.69.

Thomas also won the long jump with 4.21m and Keely Deveaux was second with 4.19m.

The two athletes finished tied with another competitor for second place with 1/25m.

Thomas also won her heat in 8.21 for the fastest time overall and Deveaux won her heat of the 60m in 8.28 for second fastest time overall. But in the baseball throw, Deveaux was second with 51.62m and Thomas got sixth with 37.46m.

Under-15 girls glory

Jamiah Nabbie’s feat in the under-15 girls came to a close on Saturday with her struggling in tenth place in the 1,000m in 4:02.31. Thompson, however, finished a little higher in eighth place in 3:58.02.

That came after she was tied for fourth in the high jump with 1.45m. Thompson was seventh with 1.40m.

Nabbie also was fourth in the 80m hurdles in 10.66 and Thompson was fifth in 11.01 and in the baseball throw, Nabbie’s heave of 37.34m was good enough for seventh place. Thompson placed 11th with 30.66m.

On Friday, in the long jump, Thompson’s leap of 4.88m placed her second just ahead of Nabbie with 4.78m for third.

Nabbie, however, won her heat of the 80m in 10.24 for fastest time overall. Thompson won the other heat in 10.27 for second fastest time. And in the shot put, Thompson came third with 8.57m and Nabbie was eighth with 7.69m.

Under-15 boys spotlight

The last event for the boys’ under-15 came on Saturday in the 1,200m where Kenny Moxey Jr was fourth in 4:05.01. Demian Brice was sixth in 4:08.46.

Moxey Jr was also fourth in the baseball throw with 69.74m. Brice was eighth with 60.33m. Also Saturday, Moxey Jr was second in his heat of the 80m hurdles in 12.13 and Brice was fourth in 13.13. Overall, Moxey was third and Brice came in seventh.

And in the high jump, Brice pulled off the victory, clearing 1.75m and Moxey Jr got second with 1.60m.

On Friday, Moxey won the shot put with 12.98m to help push himself on the leaderboard. Brice was eighth with 10.52m.

In the 80m, Moxey Jr was second in his heat in 9.68 for fourth overall and Brice came in fourth in his heat in 10.19 for eighth overall.

And, in the long jump, Brice had the winning leap of 5.51m and Moxey Jr was second with 5.23m.

Under-13 boys highlights

At the end of their competition on Saturday, Jonathan Higgs and Kamron Henfield ran neck-and-neck in the 1,000m. Higgs got ninth in 3:38.26 and Henfield followed him in tenth in 3:39.73.

In the baseball throw, Henfield got second with 58.93m and Higgs was 12th with 33.45m.

On Friday, in the 60m, Higgs got second in his heat in 8.04 and Henfield won the other head in 8.07 and the high jump saw Higgs pick up sixth place with 1.30m and Henfield was eighth with 1.30m.

“There were some strong competitors in every age group. When our athletes fell short in one event, they were able to make up the points in the other events,” Hall said. “We were able to place in the top three in the under-13 girls, under- 15 girls and under-15 boys. With a few teams not able to attend, I think the overall competition was great.”

Also on Friday, the athletes also got a chance to compete in a mixed 4 x 100m relay.

The under-13 combo of Deveaux, Higgs, Thomas and Henfield got disqualified, but in the under-15 mixed race, Thomas, Moxey Jr, Brice and Nabbie teamed up for the win in 48.30.