Other than the men's 4x400 meters (m), which appears to be as solid as ever, the remainder of Team Bahamas could be experiencing some serious challenges going into the inaugural International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Relay Championships.
The deadline for submission of names to the IAAF office in Monaco was yesterday, and up to the 11th hour, team officials were still tight-lipped in relation to the final make-up of the team, despite a festive world relays promotion last Friday in which the team was officially announced.
A 38-member team was initially named, but according to sources yesterday, that number had to be reduced. The IAAF World Relays Bahamas 2014 is just a dozen days away, set for May 24-25 at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium.
The men's sprint relay team, in particular, will apparently suffer some losses. That seems to be the unit hit the hardest. National record holder in the men's 100m, Derrick Atkins, is no longer in the picture, and two of the fastest Bahamian sprinters this year, Shavez Hart and Trevorvano Mackey, apparently have school commitments.
"No one has heard from Derrick. We don't know if he is dead or alive," said Mike Sands, president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), yesterday. "It's unfortunate but that's just how it is."
BAAA executives were lodged in a meeting late last night; up until press time, there was still no word on the official presentation of the team to the IAAF.
The coaches for the squad are Rupert Gardiner and Fritz Grant. Gardiner said yesterday that they remain optimistic, despite the challenges they might be facing.
"When you look at this team, the men's 4x400m in particular, to have three of the guys running 45-point over the weekend, and Michael ran 45.34 about a week ago, that shows that our guys are ready to run a pretty strong 4x400 for the world relays. Also, when you factor in LaToy running a 45.5 recently, we have the legs to do some good things in the men's 4x400m. Overall, that's five guys who have run 45, so I expect the 'Golden Knights' to go out there and put on a show for the Bahamian people," said Gardiner. "For the other relays, we still have a number of our top athletes coming in with the exception of the college kids. Shavez Hart and Trevorvano Mackey are on the borderline not to come because of school commitments, but we still have athletes like Adrian Griffith, Warren Fraser, Blake Bartlett and Jamial Rolle. It might not be as strong as we would have liked it to be, but it still has the potential to be a very strong team. With the 4x200m, we might have to use some of the guys from the 4x400m and the 4x100m, but I still expect them to perform well," he added.
In relation to national record holder Atkins, Gardiner reiterated the sentiments of Sands.
"We tried to contact Derrick over and over, and he hasn't responded to us. I think that's a slap in the face. For someone who holds the national record, he should have responded, and he hasn't."
As mentioned, The Bahamas still has the services of Griffith, Fraser, Bartlett, Rolle and Johnathon Farquharson in the men's sprint relay. Rolle, Stephen Newbold, Steven Gardiner, Alonzo Russell and Kendrick Hanna are listed for the men's 4x200m; Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Ramon Miller, Michael Mathieu, LaToy Williams, Wesley Neymour, Andretti Bain and Jeffery Gibson are listed in the relay pool for the men's 4x400m.
Brown, Pinder and Miller all ran in the men's 400m at the Guadeloupe International Athletics Meet over the weekend, and all three turned in respectable times.
Miller was second, in 45.21 seconds; Brown finished third, in 45.23 seconds and Pinder was fourth, in 45.59 seconds. Trinidadian Lalonde Gordon won the race, in 44.91 seconds. Over at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix in Tokyo, Japan, Mathieu ran in the 100m and 200m events. He was fourth in the 100m, in 10.41 seconds, behind Americans Justin Gatlin (10.02) and Mike Rodgers (10.11) and Frenchman Christopher Lemaitre (10.31). Mathieu was second in the men's 200m in 20.64 seconds, behind Grenadian Kirani James (20.63).
As far as the women for Team Bahamas are concerned, for the World Relays, initially named for the 4x100m relay pool were Sheniqua Ferguson, Shaunae Miller, Cache Armbrister, Anthonique Strachan, V'Alonee Robinson, Tynia Gaither and Tayla Carter. For the women's 4x200m, the athletes named were Nivea Smith, Tayla Carter, Keianna Albury, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie, Lanece Clarke and Rashan Brown, although national record holder in that event, Ferguson-McKenzie, has reportedly said that she will not compete.
Finally, named to compete in the women's 4x400m are Shaunae Miller, Rashan Brown, Miriam Byfield, Amara Jones, Shakeitha Henfield, Cottrell Martin, Shaquania Dorsett and Christine Amertil.
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