The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

Day one of the Bahamas Games track and field got underway yesterday at the Thomas A Robinson national stadium. All 10 teams representing the islands of The Bahamas came out the gate with strong performances.

With Grand Bahama leading the overall rankings for the sixth Bahamas Games, New Providence turned up the heat on the track and field on day one.

The Buccaneers lead the sporting discipline with 31 medals, including 13 gold. The Lucayans of Grand Bahama are tied for second with the Andros Chickcharnies for 12 medals in track and field.

TRACK

CARIFTA double gold medallist Jamiah Nabbie, along with CARIFTA silver-medallist Shayann Demeritte, pulled out the one-two punch in the under 17 100-metre (m) finals.

Nabbie finished with a time of 12.10 and Demeritte followed behind with 12.49. The two are expected to shut it down until the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) under-18 and under-23 championships in Costa Rica, starting next week Friday.

Both sprinters talked about how it felt to represent the Buccaneers at the sixth Bahamas Games.

“It feels amazing we didn’t want to push too hard because we have competition next week for NACAC so we had fun doing what we love,” Nabbie said.

Demeritte shared the same sentiment that it was a fun race to compete in to represent the island. She said she did not expect the event to be this big but was happy to see the turnout.

Both ladies were selected along with 17 other girls for the NACAC U18 team. They are both ready to compete hard in Costa Rica but, most importantly, they look forward to having a fun time.

The duo also claimed a gold medal for the home team in the 4x100m under 17 relays.

The team of K’Leigh Davis, Nabbie, Rache Pantry and Demeritte clocked 47.57, leaving the competition behind in the win.

The Lucayans finished second with 50.50 and the Chickcharnies secured bronze.

Ishmael Rolle, a member of the U18 boys NACAC team, ran a new personal best with 10.59 in the under 17 100m finals for New Providence.

Aiden Kelly represented the Lucayans for second and Everette Fraser also came away with a bronze medal for the Buccaneers.

Rolle said it felt good to run for his hometown to show them what he could do for New Providence at the Bahamas Games.

He added that his goal was to improve and do better and at NACAC he will look to achieve another personal best and do well for Team Bahamas.

Rolle also ran the anchor leg in the under 17 4x100m relays to add another gold medal to New Providence’s count. The relay team included Everette Fraser, Rolinney Labranche and Christopher Roker.

Camille Rutherford came second in the 100m finals at last week’s national track and field championships. One week later, she walked away with a gold medal win in the 100m women’s open finals. Rutherford notched 11.65 in the sprint.

She talked about how it felt to compete at the Bahamas Games.

“The competition was easy. I was practicing on my start because I am trying to improve on that for the Under-23 championships that are coming up,” she said.

Her goal is to record a personal best at the championships and run a time in the low-11 range.

Overall, she said she enjoyed the opening ceremony and all the different sporting disciplines involved in the return of the Bahamas Games, this year being the Golden Jubilee and marking 50 years of Independence.

Rutherford along with Denisha Cartwright, Koi Adderley, and Printassia Johnson came away with gold in the 4x100m open relays.

The Buccaneers also emerged as winners in the under 17 and open 1500m race. Ross Martin ran a time of 4:26.31 for under 17 and the latter went to Christopher Santil with 4:14.96.

Santil said it felt great and he was proud of himself and the team that he represents. He said the Bahamas Games are awesome now that people from the Family Islands can also watch and support him.

Additionally, the win by Karon Dean in the men’s 100m open helped the Buccaneers to sweep the event with all gold medals.

FIELD

The Buccaneers discovered gold on the field at the Bahamas Games.

Koi Adderley emerged victorious in the women’s open high jump. She leaped to 1.65m. Meanwhile, Buccaneers’ Zoe Adderley notched 10.33m in the under 17 girls triple jump event.

Lynwood Brown claimed victory in the under 17 boys discus throw with 30.60m. Meanwhile, in the boys javelin throw for the same age group New Providence nabbed silver and gold. Kenny Moxey put up 46.97m for first and Ashton Moxey threw a distance of 35.39m for second.

Day two begins with the field events at 4pm at the TAR national stadium.