Christine Amertil, Dominic Demeritte in the runnings for BAAA male and female senior athletes of the year

By SHAVAUGHN MOSS

NG Sports Reporter

With two days left, anticipation is mounting as to who will win the coveted titles of Bahamas Amateur Athletics Associations senior male and female athletes of the year.

Last month, The Guardian looked at the possibility of a sweep by field event athletes.

But with days left, two track athletes, female quarter-miler Christine Amertil and male sprinter Dominic Demeritte could throw "monkey-wrenches" into the equation and once again provide a medal sweep for the track runners.

Female quarter-miler Christine Amertil captured her first major medal of her professional career, a silver at the 9th International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships in Athletics.

Amertil ran 51.11 seconds at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England in March.

Twenty-four year old Amertil also made the semi-finals of the 400 at the IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Paris, France, her first competition back after injury, and ran 51.85-seconds and finished sixth in her heat.

Those two accomplishments this year put her in good stead for the female honour over javelin thrower Laverne Eve.

Eve, 38, made her first ever Worlds final and finished eighth. She hit the medal podium this year at the Senior Central American and Caribbean Championships and captured the gold, and the Pan American Games which she walked away from with the silver.

Demeritte snagged the bronze medal in the men's 200 metres at the indoor world championships.

The national record holder clocked 20.92 seconds, to win the country's first medal at those championships.

He also won the gold at the Central American and Caribbean Championships in St. George's Grenada in 20.43 seconds, and the semi-finals of the outdoor world championships and finished eighth in 20.71 seconds, performances which could net him the men's award.

The top field contender, 22-year-old triple jumper Leevan Sands is a student at Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama.

He captured the bronze at the Paris World Outdoor Championships and the gold medal at the CAC Games.

Who will win the coveted senior male and female titles will be answered on Thursday at the 4th annual banquet which will be staged at the Wyndham Cable Beach Hotel, under the patronage of BAAA past president Levi Gibson.

This year, for the first time, each winning athlete will receive a trip to a destination of their choice within the Florida area.

Athlete nominations were made by the BAAA statistician who kept record of their results for the year. Association executives make the final decision on who wins.

Posted: Tuesday December 16, 2003