The fantastic times and exceptional distances recorded by Bahamians track and field athletes this season are all set for an exciting culmination at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) Junior and Senior National Championships, scheduled for July 5-7 at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium.
The three-day meet, which will feature The Bahamas' best junior and senior athletes, was launched yesterday at a press conference at the new Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium. The event will get underway at 3 p.m. each day, and according to BAAA President Drumeco Archer, there is still a chance that it will be moved to the new stadium which is undergoing repairs ahead of next year's world relays.
On day one of the nationals, the featured events on the track will be the heats and finals of the 100 meters (m) and the heats of the 400m races. The heats of the short and long hurdles and the 400m finals will be held on day two, and the finals of the short and long hurdles finals, the finals of the 200 and 800m events, and the relay carnival will wrap up the competition on day three.
The meet is a qualifier for the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Under-18 and Under-23 Track and Field Championships from July 21-23 in San Jose, Costa Rica; the Pan American Under-20 (U20) Athletics Championships; and the 19th edition of the World Athletics Championships set for August 19-27 at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
Team Bahamas is expected to be well represented and athletes must compete at the nationals in order to be considered for any of the aforementioned teams.
"Every year, the federation is tasked with putting on its national championships and this year's event is expected to be grand. We want to encourage all of the fans to come out and support the athletes," said BAAA Special Events Coordinator Demarius Cash, the meet director for the nationals.
Cash said that there will be a cultural set-up at the nationals, complete with everything Bahamian from arts and craft, music and food and drinks. There is also expected to be a corner for children with a bouncing castle.
"The cultural village that will be on display, that kind of feature, is so important to the preservation of things Bahamian, and in this 50th anniversary of independence, we celebrate one of the pastimes of this country which is track and field," said BAAA President Archer. "We are looking forward to the public coming out and supporting this event."
As far as the action on the track is concerned, BAAA Vice President of Technical Operations Tito Moss said that all of the elite senior athletes and promising junior and collegiate athletes are expected to be home to compete.
"We are looking forward to an exciting championships as all of our junior athletes and the premier senior athletes are expected to be here," said Moss. "We have had an exciting year of track and field thus far and we are looking forward to this trials being an exciting one, heading into the summer meets."
One of the breakout stars in Bahamian athletics this season has definitely been Terrence Jones, a junior at Texas Tech University. Jones, who competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week, has already equaled the Bahamian national record in the men's 100 meters (m) this year, and is the NCAA Division I champion in the men's 60m indoors.
Indoors, he came within a hundredth of a second of his own NCAA record, running 6.46 seconds this year and outdoors, he has run sub-10 seconds in the 100m twice, including tying the Bahamian national record of 9.91 seconds. In the 200m, he has run 20.05 seconds, becoming the second-fastest Bahamian all-time over that distance.
Jones is one of nine Bahamian athletes to qualify for the Budapest World Championships so far, and he has done so in two individual events (men's 100 and 200m). The others are Steven Gardiner (men's 200m and 400m), Alonzo Russell (men's 400m), LaQuan Nairn (men's long jump), Anthonique Strachan (women's 100m and 200m), TyNia Gaither (women's 200m), Shaunae Miller-Uibo (women's 200m and 400m), Devynne Charlton (women's 100m hurdles) and Charisma Taylor (women's triple jump).
In the relays, the women's 4x100m relay team is currently in the top 16 teams in the world, thereby holding on to a qualifying spot and the other teams are close to cracking the elite group of world level qualifiers.
The qualifying period for the worlds closes at the end of the month, and there are other Bahamians who are close to the required times and distances.
In the men's 100m, Clemson sophomore Wanya McCoy ran 10.10 and 20.41 seconds in the short sprints this year, and just might be the stiffest competition for Jones. The standards for the worlds are 10 seconds flat and 20.16 seconds respectively.
Gardiner has re-established himself as the man to beat in the men's 200 and 400m, and in the latter, Alonzo Russell has stepped forward as a challenger this season. Russell has run the three fastest times in his life in the men's 400m this year, highlighted by the 44.73 clocking he had at the Tom Jones Memorial Classic in Gainesville, Florida, in April. He is now the joint fifth-fastest Bahamian of all-time in that event, tying Troy McIntosh's former national record. Junior national record holder Wendell Miller, coming back from an injury, could also pose a threat in the men's 400m.
Stepping up to the 800m, Joel Forbes is the new man on the scene, taking down a 25-year-old national record. The 24-year-old Cumberland University junior ran 1:49.32 at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Outdoor Track and Field Championships for a second place finish in that event two weeks ago, erasing Chris Brown's national record of 1:49.54.
Texas Tech freshman Antoine Andrews, just 20, has emerged as arguably The Bahamas' best in the short hurdles. In the long hurdles, Shakeem Hall-Smith will be aiming for another national title and will be challenged by a bevy of young hurdlers.
In the jumps and throws for the men, strongman Keyshawn Strachan who was once the world leader in the men's javelin is recovering from an elbow injury and hopes to compete, Nairn will be in action in the men's long jump, Kaiwan Culmer will be a force to reckon with in the men's triple jump event and the high jump is always competitive with the likes of Donald Thomas, Jamal Wilson and Shaun Miller.
In the men's decathlon, Kendrick Thompson and Ken Mullings continue to rack up World Rankings points and inch closer and closer to the qualifying standard for the world championships.
In the female short sprints, 29-year-old Anthonique Strachan is quietly having her best season and is expected to be challenged by Anthaya Charlton, the younger sister of Olympic and world championships finalist Devynne Charlton who has run four tenths of a second faster than she ever did in the women's 100m this season.
With Miller-Uibo out of the 200 and 400m events, recovering from giving birth in April, some new talent is anticipated.
Charlton should reign supreme in the women's short hurdles and could be challenged by a trio of women who have each run under 13.10 seconds this year – Charisma Taylor, Denisha Cartwright and Gabrielle Gibson.
In the women's jumps and the throws, Rhema Otabor in the women's javelin, Taylor and Androsian Tamara Myers in the women's triple jump and Anthaya Charlton and Taylor in the women's long jump are some of the athletes to look out for. Taylor, who has already qualified for the world championships in the women's triple jump, is close to qualifying in the women's 100m hurdles and long jump events as well.
Those are just the seniors. The juniors are expected to be just as competitive with a number of young stars rising to the forefront this year and making names for themselves in track and field.
On the senior side, apart from the stringent qualifying standards, athletes can also qualify for the world championships by their World Athletics rankings, by wildcard entry (reigning world champion or 2022 Diamond League Champion), or as the current area champion from his or her respective area championships.
BAAA President Archer said he anticipates that The Bahamas will field one of its strongest teams, for that global meet, in many years.
"When we look at the composition of what we will be presenting over the course of the junior and senior nationals, we will see that a generation of athletes under 30 years of age will be competing, and so succession is something that we are incredibly proud of and we can see that there is a passing of the baton from one generation to the next. That's a direction of the sport that is indicative of progress," said Archer. "I am expecting some amazing performances. We have always talked about small country with great wonders and I think that The Bahamas has become a producer of track and field talent, and because of our focus and the attention that we have given to our sport, through the support of parents and family members, and the government and the corporate community, we are indebted to each and every one of you that has made track and field what it is today. There will be the emergence of new stars and the return of old ones at these nationals and we invite everyone to be there."
Bahamian collegiate athletes and elite athletes training overseas are expected to begin arriving in town from as early as next week.
Once again, the BAAA Junior and Senior National Championships is set for July 5-7 at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium, with a possibility of the venue being changed to the new stadium.
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