By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
The third annual Red-Line Athletics Oaktree Sonja Knowles Track Classic over the weekend at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium was termed a tremendous success with quite a number of athletes attaining the qualifying standards for the CARIFTA Games.
All of the qualifying performances, however, have to be ratified by the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, but Red-Line Athletics’ head coach Tito Moss said they are just delighted that the athletes got to produce some of the outstanding performances at the two-day meet that ran from Saturday to Sunday.
Moss, who also serves as the vice president of operations for the BAAA, said the meet lived up to its advanced billing.
“We had excellent results in the short sprints,” Moss said. “We had a boy, Adam Musgrove, who qualified in the under-20 boys 200m and in the under-20 girls, Amari Pratt.
“We probably would have had some qualifiers in the 100, save and a part from the wind on Saturday, but we also had three qualifiers in the under-17 girls 400m hurdles.
“We had some near qualifiers in the under-17 and under-20 girls 800m and we had a new qualifier in the under-17 girls shot put. So I think the meet produced about seven or eight new qualifiers. So we’re excited about the calibre of the meet and what it produced.”
Named in honour of Knowles, the immediate past principal of St Augustine’s College and an advert track and field supporter, Moss said the meet continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
“It was challenging this year because of the LOC (Local Organising Committee) for CARIFTA sucked up all of the sponsorship money so to host the meet this year was the most difficult out of the three,” Moss revealed.
“I would have loved to see the LOC come together and partner with the five meet promoters and even if just providing some support, because we are producing the athletes that they will be showcasing at CARIFTA.
“So I would have loved to see the presence of the LOC at all of the club meets because there are only meets this year. All of us hosting one of these meets are finding it difficult to host because corporate money is going to the LOC for CARIFTA. But we took it on the chin and put everything in place to ensure that we still had a very successful meet.”
Despite what transpired this year in sponsorship, Moss said they were still able to provide more opportunities for the athletes to compete in, including the relays where just about every division had at least two events.
Shayann Demeritte of Swift Athletics clocked 12.07, followed by Darvinque Dean in 12.18 in the under-17 girls 100m. Dean also took the 400m hurdles in 1:01.45 with her team-mate Bayli Major getting second in 1:04.18 as they both did the qualifying standard.
Major also qualified in the triple jump with her winning leap of 11.59m.
Zoe Adderley of Fast Forward was the runner-up with 11.41m.
Ishmael Rolle of Swift Athletics won in 10.82 to dip under the qualifying time, but it was wind-aided.
His team-mate Rolinny Labranche was the runner-up in 10.97.
Andrew Brown, competing unattached, won in a time of 21.45 to go under the qualifying time.
Ishmael Rolle was the runner-up in 22.21.
Brown also did the standard in the 400m in 49.41 with Branden Mackey of Bahamas Speed Dynamics as the runner-up in 52.97.
In the under-20 girls 100m, the top three finishers all would have qualified, but their times were also wind-aided. They include Jamiah Nabbie of Fast Forward Athletics in 11.67, Shatalya Dorsett of Kenyan Knights in 11.73 and Amari Pratt of Star Elite Athletics in 11.76.
Pratt also did the qualifying time in the 200m with her victory in 24.36.
Nya Wright of Red- Line Athletics was the runner-up in 24.58.
The under-20 boys 100m also had the three top finishers - Carlos Brown Jr of Swift Athletics winning in 10.19, followed by Adam Musgrove of Bahamas Speed Dynamics in 10.21 and Jeremiah Adderley of DTSP Wolfpack in 10.54 - dip under the qualifying standards, but the times were also wind-aided.
Musgrove, however, came through in the 200m in 21.23 for a qualifying time.
On the field, Terrell McCoy of Triple Threat, was a qualifier in the under-17 girls’ shot put with a heave of 12.93m. Danielle Nixon of Blue Chips Athletics was the runner-up with 11.41m.
In the open division, Tamara Myers of Leap of Faith won the 100m in 11.80 and took the long jump with a leap of 6.41m.
Brenicko Nixon of Swift Athletics won the men’s 100m in 11.33; Auston Clarke of Bahamas Speed Dynamics took the 200m in 22.39 and the 400m in 50.83 with Kenzie Knowles of Swift Athletics taking the 800m in 1:59.88.
Jyles Etienne of Leap of Faith was the winner of the men’s high jump with 2.00m with team-mate Ryan Ingraham settling for second with 1.95m.
Rakem Sweeting of Red-Line Athletics won the long jump event with a leap of 6.53m.
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