The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NCAA champion Rhema Otabor posted a record-breaking performance and Keyshawn Strachan returned to full strength as Team Bahamas got another impressive showing from the throwers to highlight the country’s performances at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Under-18 and Under-23 championships.

The three-day meet came to a close yesterday at the National Stadium in San Jose, Costa Rica, with The Bahamas in fourth place on the medal table with seven gold, nine silver and seven bronze for a total of 23 medals.

The United States of America topped the chart with 47 medals (23 gold, 16 silver and eight bronze); Jamacia was second with 32 (13 gold, 14 silver and five bronze) and Canada was third with 28 (12 gold, 10 silver and six bronze).

Otabor established a meet record with her toss of 188-feet, 7-inches or 57.48 metres for the gold in the under-23 girls’ javelin. American Maura Huwalt took the silver with 161-7 (49.25m) and Kimberly Smith of the British Virgin Islands claimed the bronze with 123-3 (37.54m).

Strachan, back at full strength after coming off an injury that prevented him from competing at the NCAA Championships, popped a winning throw of 257-1 (78.37m) in the under-23 boys’ javelin.

A pair of Americans trailed for the other two medals as Dash Sirmon got the silver with 246-11 (75.28m) and Braden Presser got the bronze with 238-2 (72.60m).

The other individual gold medals came from Cailyn Johnson in the under-18 girls’ discus with 134-0 (40.85m) and Johnathan Rodgers soared 49-3 (15.01m) in the under-18 boys’ triple jump.

The lone individual gold medal on the track came in under-18 boys’ 400 metres as Zion Miller won in 48.08 and Zion Shepherd was third in 49.10. Jamaican Joshua Wint split the pair for the silver in 48.68.

Miller and Shepherd teamed up with Nya Wright and Alexis Roberts to take the lone relay gold in the under-18 mixed 4 x 400m mixed race in 3:31.29.

Team Bahamas got a pair of individual silver medals as Dior-Ray Scott tossed the under-18 girls javelin 135-9 (41.39m) and Annae Mackey took the under-18 girls shot put with 42-11 ½ (13.09m) and on the track, Antoine Andrews raced to the silver in the under-23 boys 110m hurdles in 13.57 and Darvinique Dean got the other in the under-18 girls 400m hurdles in 1:01.13.

In relay competition, the Bahamas added four more medals.

The quartet of Antoine Andrews, Adam Musgrove, Carlos Brown and Terrence Jones clocked 39.59 for their silver in the under-23 boys 4 x 100m; Phebe Thompson, Shatalya Dorsett, Bia Richards and Shayann Demeritte did 46.42 for their silver in the under-18 girls 4 x 100m; Darvinique Dean, Shatalyn Dorsett, Nya Wright and Alexis Roberts ran 3:51.80 for their silver in the under-18 girls 4 x 400m relay and Berkley Munnings, Zion Shepherd, Morgan Moss and Zion Miller got their silver in the under-18 boys 4 x 400m in 3:19.80.

Berkley Munnings led the individual bronze medalists in the under-18 boys 400m hurdles in 54.27; Cayden Smith claimed his medal in the under-18 boys 200m in 21.76; Shaun Miller Jr got the bronze in the under-23 men’s high jump with a leap of 7-0 1/2 (2.15m) and Koi Adderley cleared 5-5 (1.65m) in the under-18 girls high jump, while Tylah Pratt was fourth with 5-3 (1.60m).

The under-18 boys 4 x 100m relay team of Johnathon Rodgers, Cayden Smith, Trent Ford and Ishmael Rolle got a bronze in 41.19. w

In other results of note, Shatalya Dorsett place fifth in the under-18 girls 200m final in 24.47. She won her heat in 24.40 for the third fastest time in the semi’s with Nia Richards falling short of advancing with her ninth place in 24.79.

Terrence Jones was entered in the final of the under-23 boys 200m final, but did not start. Canadian Callum Robinson won the gold in 20.52, while Denar Francis of Jamaica got the silver in 20.67 and American Connor Washington took the bronze in 20.74. Jones had the second fastest qualifying time of 20.07 in the semifinals on Saturday and Musgrove just missed advancing, placing tenth overall in 21.31.

Camille Rutherford place seventh in the under-23 girls 200m final in 24.70. She also had the seventh fastest qualifying time of 24.20.

There were three exhibition events because there were not sufficient competitors.

In the under-18 boys decathlon, Kenny Moxey Jr won with 6.095 points, beating out Guatemala’s Maxwell Alvarez, who was second with 5.528 points. In the under-23 girls heptathlon, Shaunece Miller was second with 4.291 points behind American Jasdin O’Brien, who won with 5.770 points. and Brenden Vanderpool picked up the silver in the under-23 men’s pole vault with 4.95m. The gold went to American Huner Garretson with a meet record of 5.61m.

One setback came from Jamiah Nabbie. She suffered a slight muscle pull in her semifinal of the under-18 girls 100m and coasted through the finish line in 17.83 and was unable to continue competing in the meet.