HAMILTON, Bermuda - It didn't take long for The Bahamas to make a statement at these 41st CARIFTA Games here in Hamilton, Bermuda.
In the first session of the games Saturday morning, The Bahamas picked up three medals - a silver and two bronze. Two of those medals came in the same event as Androsian Tamara Myers, and Antonique Butler finished second and third in the Under-20 Girls Triple Jump. The other bronze medal, which was The Bahamas' first medal of these regional championships, came from Drexel Maycock in the Under-17 Boys Shot Put.
Maycock had a best throw of 15.67 meters (m) - 51' 5" - for the bronze medal. It was a personal best throw for him and more than half of a meter better than what he did at the Colina CARIFTA Trials.
"I feel real good about it," said Maycock. "The weather over here is cool and it was very windy, and that might have thrown me off a bit but I did the best that I can so I'm happy with it. I'm not disappointed at all because it was a personal best for me. There is always room for improvement so I just have to keep working at it and continue to get better," he added.
In that event, Demar Gayle from Jamaica won the gold medal with a best throw of 17.31m (56' 9-1/2"), and Trinidadian Kenejah Williams secured the silver with a best effort of 16.75m (54' 11-1/2"). Bahamian D'Varj Smith also competed in that event, and finished eighth with a distance of 13.62m (44' 8-1/4").
"I felt bad because I wasn't able to do a personal best but it's a learning process," said Smith who was competing in his first CARIFTA Games. "I was able to gain a lot of experience so that was good. I'm coming back next time to win it. I'm used to this breezy weather so I don't think that was a factor. I just wasn't at my best today."
In the Under-20 Girls Triple Jump, Myers had a best jump of 11.62 meters (m) - 38' 1-1/2" - for the silver, while Butler brought home the bronze medal with a best distance of 11.43m (37' 6"). Jamaican Sabina Allen won the gold medal with a jump of 12.18m (39' 11-1/2"). For Myers, it was her second consecutive CARIFTA silver medal in the event, while Butler improved from a sixth place finish a year ago, to the bronze medal position this time.
"I'm a little disappointed because I really wanted to go out as the gold medalist," said Myers Saturday morning. "I had some problems with my technique today, but I'll just continue to work at it and hopefully, I'll continue to get better."
Butler said that she satisfied with the bronze. It was her first ever CARIFTA medal.
"It's an awesome feeling," she said. "We did as well as we could have and to come out with two medals in the same event feels good. I was a little disappointed for Tamara because I know she really wanted the gold but that is how it goes sometimes," she added.
Also here at the National Sports Centre in Hamilton on Saturday morning, Miquel Roach cleared 1.55m (5' 1") to finish fourth in the Under-17 Girls High Jump. Jamaican Jehvania Whyte won the gold medal in that event with a height of 1.60m (5' 3"), Nargaclis Statie of Curacao settled for the silver medal with an identical height as Whyte but suffering more knockdowns, and Samara Spencer, of Jamaica, won the bronze medal with the same height as Roach but having fewer knockdowns.
"It was tough because I had just ran the hurdles and still had the shot put to go, but I'm satisfied with the effort I gave," said Roach. "My legs were a little weak so I probably didn't do as good as I could have done but I tried my best so I'm satisfied," she added.
As she mentioned, Roach had just ran the 100m hurdles, competing in the Girls Pentathlon. She finished fifth in that event in 17.99 seconds, and tossed the shot put 6.74m (22' 1-1/2"), for a total of 807 points after two events in the Girls Pentahlon. She is the only Bahamian in that event.
Also competing in the Under-17 Girls High Jump was Vinisa Beneby. Young Beneby finished sixth with a best clearance of 1.50m (4' 11").
Disappointing results came for The Bahamas in the Under-20 Boys Discus, as DeAngelo Nottage had a best throw of 41.58m (136' 5") which was only good enough for seventh place, and Gerrard Burrows struggled with his technique for the duration of the tournament. He brought up the rear in ninth place, as he failed to get in a good throw.
"I think that anxiety got the best of me today and then after that, the wind picked up but overall," said Burrows who was competing on his first CARIFTA team. "I'm disappointed because a personal best would have gotten me a silver medal in this event. I think that the weather was definitely a factor today. That threw me off," he added.
Heading into the evening session on the first day of competition, The Bahamas was still looking for its first gold medal of these CARIFTA Championships. Meanwhile, Jamaica had already won four gold medals.

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