The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH very few meets to compete in before the final trials next month, local coaches are calling on the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations to rescind on the qualifying standards for the return of the CARIFTA Games over the Easter holiday weekend in Kingston, Jamaica.

As they’ve done every year, the BAAA has determined their qualifying standards based on the third to first place finishes from the previous games. With no games held in the past two years due to the coronavirus pandemic, the standards are based on the games from 2017-2019.

The coaches, however, are of the opinion that since there were very few local meets held in the past two years since the outbreak of the pandemic, the BAAA should consider allowing the athletes to make the team based on their performances at the final trials.

“Based upon all of the results and due to the fact that all of the countries are affected by the pandemic, we feel they should throw those standards out the door for the time being,” said Andrew Tynes, the head coach of Swift Athletics, who is leading the coaches’ campaign.

“I don’t think the performances will be as strong as it was in the past because we know that most of the kids in the other countries were not competing like our athletes are. Up to last year, we had a few meets, but there were no high school sports and that has affected a lot of the athletes.”

So far, the BAAA has only been able to stage one full-fledged meet and that was on Saturday when the Star Performers Time Trials was staged at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium. Although interrupted for at least an hour and-a-half by the Royal Bahamas Police Force and COVID-19 officers, there were almost 10 athletes who attained the qualifying standards when the meet finally resumed.

All meets in January were postponed and the BAAA had to resort to a pair of low-keyed time trials. The next meet is scheduled to be held Saturday, February 19 by the DLT Track Club. After that, the BAAA Final Trials will take place from March 25-26.

The CARIFTA Games is set for April 16-18 in Jamaica.

It will be the first time that the top regional junior track and field meet has been held since 2019 in George Town, Cayman Islands. The past two games in 2020 and 2021 were called off due to the spread of the coronavirus.

As one of the top 200 metre sprinters at both the junior and senior level, Tynes said with limited competition for the local athletes to compete in, it would be more advantageous to the BAAA to just select the top two athletes in their respective events to compete at CARIFTA. Tynes, who competed for RM Bailey and the University of Texas at El Paso, was a 1990 silver medallist and 1991 gold medallist at the CARIFTA Games in the under-20 boys’ 200m, who went on to win a gold at the Central American and Caribbean Games and a silver at the Pan American Games. Additionally, he represented the country in three World Championships in 1995, 1997 and 2001 and the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.

The former national record holder said another criteria could be determined in selecting who will compete in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 metre relay pools as there are some considerations that should be given to athletes competing in disciplines other than the 100 and 400m.

“The trials will give the BAAA a chance to look at the athletes in head-to-head competition,” he said. “We only have one more meet before the trials. There’s no way that the athletes will be able to qualify in just one meet.

“Right now, it’s so unfair to the athletes to go out there and compete in very few meets. We already had a rough time during the pandemic, so we can award our athletes by allowing them to travel without having to rely solely on the standards.”

Tynes, now regarded as one of the top sprint coaches in the country, said the coaches are consulting and will present their collective ideas to their coaches association president Shaun Miller Sr so that he can share their suggestions with the BAAA.

He currently coaches s number of top sprinters, including Carlos Brown, who qualified for the under-20 boys’ 100m at the Star Performers Meet on Saturday with a second place finish behind Antoine Andrews of the Bahamas Speed Dynamics.

Among the other qualifiers from the meet on Saturday were Grand Bahamian Shatalya Dorsett of the Kenyan Knights, Lanisha Lubin of the DTSP Wolkpack, Terell McCoy of the Xtreme Athletics, brother and sister national record holder Keyshawn and Kamera Strachan and Dior-Rae Scott, all of the Blue Chips Athletics.

Two athletes, Andrew Brown of Quick Step and Tamani Skinner of the Red-Line Athletics, did the B standards in their event. Both would have to attain the A standard in order to compete.