T&T sprinters set relay record
Jamaica's Bliss takes silver; Bolt, Brooks, Dowdie advance
CMC
Monday, July 11, 2005
NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) - Trinidad and Tobago, led by their 100-metre one-two finishers Darrel Brown and Marc Burns, sped to a new meet record 39.04 seconds in the preliminaries of the men's 4x100-metre relay at the 20th Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Senior Track & Field Championship yesterday.
The T&T speed men lowered their own CAC record and were poised for the gold medal in the final last night.
English-speaking Caribbean competitors were out-sped in their bid for gold medals in the sprint hurdles and there were predictable results in the heats of the 200 and 800 metre races on day two of competition at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium.
Trinidad and Tobago's men's sprint relay team advertised gold medal form as Kevin Pierre, Burns, Jacey Harper and Brown, in that order, chipped 0.01 seconds off their own CAC best mark in Grenada two years ago.
The Bahamas (39.65) chased T&T home, while the Netherlands Antilles (39.40) won heat two ahead of Jamaica (39.76).
The Cubans Joel Reyes and Dayron Planes dominated the men's 110-metre hurdles final, with Reyes winning in a championship record 13.32 seconds, topping Planes (13.42), with Grenada's Alleyne Lett snatching third in 13.49 seconds. Haiti's Dudley Dorival (13.50) and Jamaica's Chris Pinnock (13.55) got fourth and fifth, respectively.
Haiti's Nadine Faustin, silver medallist in the 100m hurdles in Grenada four years ago, stepped up to the top of the medal podium this time with a victory in 12.83 seconds, her quickest time this season, edging Jamaican Andrea Bliss (12.86) for the gold, with Cuban Yahumara Neyra third in 13.09 seconds. Barbadians Lauren Maul (14.02) and Janielle Brathwaite (14.30) got sixth and seventh, respectively.
Big names Usain Bolt, Obadele Thompson and Dominic Demeritte were among those advancing in the men's 200 metres.
Trinidad and Tobago logged two men's semi-final wins in the half-lap sprint with Aaron Armstrong (20.67) edging Jamaica's world junior record holder Bolt (20.69) in heat one, and Julieon Raeburn (20.56) taking heat two ahead of Thompson, the Barbadian 2000 Olympics 100-metre bronze medallist, who paced himself into second in 20.73.
Bahamian Demeritte, the defending champion and reigning World Indoor champion, took heat three in the afternoon's fastest time 20.54, chased by Jamaican Dewayne Barrett (20.75).
The Cayman Islands' Cydonie Mothersill is taking aim at her third consecutive CAC 200-metre title and she sped to a personal season's best 22.39 seconds to capture heat one, chased by Jamaica's reigning US NCAA Division One champion Sheri-Ann Brooks, who got second in 23.17 seconds.
Bahamian Christine Amertil won heat two in 22.58 and Jamaica's Peta-Gaye Dowdie, the NCAA champion over the distance five years ago, landed heat three in 22.87 seconds.
The next fastest qualifiers for the final were Kittitian Virgil Hodge (23.05) and the US Virgin Islands' Laverne Jones (23.23).
T&T's national record holder Sherridan Kirk, with a time of one minute 51.53 seconds, and Haiti's Moise Joseph (1:51.97) shared the men's 800-metre semi-final races, while Jamaicans Aldwyn Sappleton (1:51.95) and Ricardo Cunningham (1:53.56) also advanced.
In the women's 800 semis, Grenada's defending champion Neisha Bernard-Thomas (2:04.39) and Jamaica's NCAA champion Aneita Denton (2:04.39) finished together, just 0.02 seconds behind Cuba's Yusneysi Santiusti (2:04.37) in the first heat, in which Antigua's multiple CARIFTA champion Janill Williams got fifth in 2:17.99 and advanced as one of the fastest losers. Trinidadian champion Melissa DeLeon did not finish that event.
Heat two went to the Cuban Adriana Munoz in 2:08.87, chased by Barbadian Sheen Gooding (2:08.97) and Jamaican Kayan Thompson (2:11.43), who were the only qualifiers from that heat.
