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| Team Bahamas settling in at WJC |
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Kelsie Johnson
Guardian Sports Reporter kelsie@nasguard.com
Published: Jul 09, 2012
Before young Shaunae Miller and Anthonique Strachan head off to their first Olympic Games, they will make a pit stop at the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships, where they are the favorites in their respective events. Both have qualified in multiple events, but Miller will concentrate fully on defending her crown when the championships start on Bahamian Independence Day, July 10. The IAAF World Junior Championships will take place in Barcelona, Spain. A 25-member team is representing The Bahamas. In the one individual event Miller will compete in, she has the second best time, 51.25 seconds, for juniors this year. American Ashley Spencer ran 50.95 seconds. Miller captured the gold medal, in 52.52 seconds, at the 13th annual championships held two years ago. The quartermiler has opted out of running in the 200m, even though she has the best time so far on the season by all athletes entered. Fellow teammate Strachan’s time of 22.75 seconds makes her the favorite now. She sits right underneath Miller who has the leading time of 22.70 seconds. Strachan is the front runner in the 100m with her season’s best of 11.22 seconds. Carmiesha Cox will contest both the 100m and the 200m events while Rashan Brown will join Miller in the 400m. President of the governing body for the sport in the country, Mike Sands, said the team will give Bahamians more to celebrate this Independence Day. Looking at the ranking charts, released by the IAAF last week, Sands is confident that they are going to get the job done. “There is no doubt that these athletes will give the country much more to celebrate,” said Sands, head of the Bahamas Association of Athletics Associations (BAAA). “If they were to live up to their expectations and their performances seen this year, then we can expect some great things from them. I think The Bahamas will be in for a very special and pleasant Independence [Day] even after the celebrations are done. In some instances, if you look at the rankings, you would see that our athletes are among the top in the world on this level. That says a lot and speaks well about the expectations. It is a testament to the coaches themselves and the athletes. It shows their focus and dedication. The IAAF have a very stringent qualification mark so every athlete would have automatically met the IAAF qualifying standard.” The 25-member team is the largest ever fielded by the BAAA. This positive fact and the news coming in from the training camp which the team attended last week has left Sands smiling. Team Bahamas moved into the games village on Saturday, after an intense training camp in Barcelona. He said: “The IAAF through the RDC, which is our development center for the region, set up a training camp for the athletes in this region. So a number of the athletes that were at Junior CAC went from that championships straight to the training camp. Up to the games, that will start on Independence Day, I believe that this team, the caliber of athletes and the qualifying positions on the junior world stage would make this the best team that The Bahamas has fielded.” The female athletes weren’t the only ones sitting at number one on the listing. O’Jay Ferguson will settle into the blocks as one of the favorites in the 400m and Blake Bartlett in the 200m. Soaring his way to the number one spot was Ryan Ingraham who has cleared 2.28m, so far, this season. Twin brothers Latario and Lathone Collie-Minns were not about to be left out. Latario has a best mark of 16.64m and Lathone landed 16.06m. The two are a shoe in for a medal at these games. Up first for The Bahamas, on the opening day of competition, will be Moriel Pitt and Tre Adderley, lining up in the 110m hurdles event. The preliminary rounds of the boys’ 100m will bring the first session on the opening day to a close. The Bahamas will be represented by Teray Smith and Anthony Farrington in that event. The preliminary rounds of the boys’ 400m will be the first event on the track, in the second session. This will be followed by the girls’ 100m. Ferguson and Elroy McBride are the qualifiers for the boys’ 400m while Strachan and Cox will take charge for Team Bahamas in the girls’ 100m.
Team members
Teray Smith 100m 200m 4x100m
100m 4x100m
200m 4x100m
400m 4x400m
400m 4x400m
110m Hurdles
110m Hurdles
High Jump
Triple Jump
Triple Jump
4x100m
4x400m
4x400m
4x100m
4x100m 4x400m
Carmiesha Cox 100m 200m 4x100m
100m 200m 4x100m
100m 200m 4x100m
400m 4x100m
400m
800m
100m Hurdles 4x100m
100m Hurdles 400m Hurdles
400m Hurdles
4x100m |
