For the first time in her professional career in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), Bahamian Jonquel 'JJ' Jones will not be donned in the Connecticut Sun uniform but rather a New York Liberty sea-foam green kit. Jones and her teammates will hit the court for the first time this season when they take on the Sun in a preseason matchup at 11 a.m. today at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Jones will be entering her seventh season in the WNBA.

The Grand Bahamian and her new teammates, which includes two-time WNBA Champion Breanna Stewart, WNBA Champion Courtney Vandersloot and 2020 WNBA number one overall pick Sabrina Ionescu, will look to start off on the right foot as they prepare for the season. There is no doubt that with the additions of Stewart and Jones, both former most valuable players in the league, the Liberty has their eyes set on one goal – winning a championship. It was what the Bahamian envisioned at her introductory press conference back in January - a week after she was traded to New York. In the offseason, Jones was one of the foreign players who had to flee Russia after her club UMMC Ekaterinburg had their season come to an end, in the face of the Russia-Ukraine war. This year, she heads into the season focused.

The Mohegan Sun Arena is familiar to Jones, having called it home for six seasons. This will be the first time she plays there as a visitor.

The game today will be one of two preseason games for the Liberty. They will head on the road to play the reigning champions, the Las Vegas Aces, at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday.

When Jones was with the Sun, they came within a game of winning the WNBA title in 2019, losing to the Washington Mystics, and within two games of winning the title last year, losing to the Aces.

After a dominant season in 2021, Jones received 48 of 49 first-place votes for the WNBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, finishing one vote shy of a unanimous selection. She led the Sun to the league's best win/loss record at 26-6, including a 15-1 home record at the Mohegan Sun Arena. That year, Jones averaged a double-double at 19.4 points – fourth-best in the league – and a league-best 11.2 rebounds per game. She shot 51.5 percent from the field.

A year after turning in arguably the greatest season by a Bahamian athlete in history, Jones took a step back in 2022. She averaged 14.6 points on 51.3 percent shooting from the field while adding 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, and finished seventh in the MVP voting. However, she did manage to lead the Sun to a second WNBA Finals berth in four years where they lost to the Aces three games to one.

The Liberty will get their regular season underway on Friday May 19 when they go on the road to face the Washington Mystics. That game tips off at 7 p.m. at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

Most of the Bahamian National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletes had the weekend off as they are preparing for their respective conference championships. However, Bahamians were still competing, particularly at other collegiate levels in their respective schools' championships and meets over the weekend. A national record also fell over the weekend.

The 10,000 meters (m) is not a popular event in The Bahamas, but Grand Bahamian Delicia Boothe took part in it and broke the national record on Friday, running at the Region VI/Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Track and Field Championships in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in Coffeyville, Kansas. Boothe, who ran for Cowley College, posted the new national record and personal best of 43:40.35 to place eighth. The old national record was set back in March 2015 by Jennaya Hield who ran 45:50.79. Winning that race over the weekend was Cloud County's Lucy Ndungu who ran 38:17.21.

Boothe also ran the 5,000m and finished 13th overall with a time of 22:23.37.

Damazvia Dames had a heavy workload in windy conditions as she competed in four individual events and one relay for the Fort Scott Community College Hounds at the same meet as Boothe. Dames is Purdue University bound.

She won the 200m and the women's triple jump event. She was second in the 100m and finished fourth in the long jump, and her 4x100m relay team finished second.

Running with a very high tailwind of 6.2 meters per second (mps), Dames was too much for the field when she clocked 22.94 seconds to be the only competitor to run sub 23 seconds in the 200m. Barton County Community College's duo of Naiya Morgan and Oarabile Tshosa were second and third, respectively. Morgan crossed the finish line in 23.36 seconds while Tshosa finished the race in 23.44 seconds.

Dames leaped 12.37m (40' 7") in the triple jump on her second attempt to secure the gold medal in that event. Placing second was Barton County Community College's Ahniesha Presulme after posting a jump of 11.51m (38' 9"). Dames' teammate Icey Green came away with the bronze medal, jumping 11.60m (38' 0-3/4").

In the 100m dash, Dames was outsprinted by Tshosa as the Bahamian had to settle for second place when she crossed the finish line in 11.35 seconds. Tshosa won in a time of 11.26 seconds. Morgan was third again, recording a time of 11.40 seconds.

Dames ran the second leg to help power the 4x100m team of Keyann Wilson, Kamerin Carter, Chaniqua Tonge and herself to a silver medal finish. The quartet posted a time of 45.76 seconds. Winning that relay was Barton County Community College, clocking 45.10 seconds for a facility record. Coffeyville Community College was third after posting a time of 47.61 seconds.

The sophomore was fourth in the long jump with a leap of 5.72m (18' 10") which came on her second attempt. Dames has the best jump in the NJCAA this season - 6.18m (20' 3-3/4"). Winning that event on the weekend was Garden City's Kerrishma Williams whose final jump of 5.98m (19' 7-1/2") propelled her from sixth to first.

At the NJCAA Region XI Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Pittsburgh State University, Bahamian Tyler Missick got a silver medal in the high jump for Iowa Western Community College. Missick cleared 2.03m (6' 8"). He was a part of a team sweep in that event. Paul Rowden won gold after he cleared 2.06m (6' 9"). Roman Smith was third, clearing the same height as Missick but losing out on the silver based on number of knockdowns.

Running with a strong tailwind, sprint hurdler Gabrielle Gibson stepped out on the track and ran under The Bahamas' flag at the John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday. Gibson, who is at Kansas University, won the 100m hurdles in a wind-aided time of 13.09 seconds. Her personal and season's best of 13.07 seconds was ran back in April.

Finishing second behind Gibson was the University of Arkansas' Madison Langley-Walker who clocked 13.13 seconds. Oklahoma State University's Bailey Golden was third in a time of 13.97 seconds.

Bahamian judo athletes Daniel Strachan (90 kg.), Alexander Strachan (100 kg.) and Xavion Johnson (66 kg.) recently competed in two major tournaments. They were coached by Oneysi Portorreal-Pons, a former national champion of Cuba.

"We had different goals for each team member. Daniel and Alexander, age 20, were trying to qualify for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and gain some Olympic points for the Pan American Games while Xavion, who is only 16 and still a cadet, was testing the waters to see if he was ready for an Olympic run," said D'Arcy Rahming Sr., president of the Bahamas Judo Federation (BJF).

Both of the Strachans have unofficially qualified for the CAC Games. Daniel finished fifth in the 90 kilogram (kg.) class, winning against Axel Garcia of Honduras after losing in the opening round to multiple medalist Carlos Paez from Venezuela. Alexander finished fifth in the 100 kg. class after he received two byes before losing to Dave Thomas of Jamaica. Xavion lost to multiple Pan Am Open medalist Ulises Mendez, a 21 year old from Mexico.

"We were very pleased with their results, keeping in mind this is the first time in a CAC trials. To have two athletes qualify is amazing. The only way to get experience is to get the time on the mat. In both tournaments, our athletes were competitive. Even in the matches that we lost we were able to fight several exchanges, block our opponents throws and off balance or throw our opponents. There were also some controversial calls that did not go our way." said Rahming.

In the Olympic and Pan American qualifier, Daniel lost to Gualin Guillamme, of Canada, but gained a 35th ranking in the region from points gained from competing. Alexander gained a 22nd place ranking by defeating Pinal Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic while Xavion gained a 51st ranking by means of participating in such a high-level tournament. He lost, albeit with a strong performance against Josue Tellez of Costa Rica after several quality exchanges.

"We are looking forward to winning medals at the CAC Games. Our intention is to get in another tournament before then to get some more experience," said Rahming.

Persons wishing to contact Bahamas Judo can do so at the e-mail address Daishihan@gmail.com.

Not only were Bahamians in action at the Penn Relays, but the Drake Relays as well.

The 113th edition of the Drake Relays took place at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, this past weekend.

Devynne Charlton was in action in the invitational women's 100m hurdles. She clocked 12.71 seconds to finish fifth.

There was an American sweep in that event as Tia Jones won in 12.44 seconds, Tonea Marshall was second in 12.61 seconds and former world champion Nia Ali finished third in 12.67 seconds. World record holder Tobi Amusan, of Nigeria, edged

Charlton for fourth, finishing in 12.69 seconds.

In the college women's 100m, Denisha Cartwright, a junior for Minnesota State University at Mankato, qualified for the final with the second fastest time, running 11.50 seconds in the heats. She came back in the final and finished second again, this time running 11.49 seconds.

Amira Young, a senior at Minnesota State University at Moorhead, won that event in 11.31 seconds. Cartwright was second and Erin Kinney, of South Dakota, a junior, finished third in 11.51 seconds.

In the college men's triple jump, Shyrone Kemp, a senior for Minnesota State University at Moorhead, finished fifth with a distance of 14.94m (49' 0-1/4").

Roman Kuleshov, of Iowa Central Community College, won that event with a leap of 15.27m (50' 1-1/4"). Praise Aniamaka, a sophomore from Purdue, finished second with a leap of 15.23m (49' 11-3/4"). Jonathan Wilburn, a junior from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, was third with a leap of 15.07m (49' 5-1/2").

Onyekachi Ukaobasi, representing Minnesota State University at Mankato, edged Kemp for fourth, finishing with a best leap of 15.04m (49' 4-1/4").

Competing for the North Dakota State Bison, senior Daejha Moss finished 14th in the college women's long jump with a jump of 5.43m (17' 9-3/4"). She was 17th in the women's triple jump with a leap of 11.37m (37' 3-3/4").