Published On:Monday, February 08, 2010

TRACK AND FIELD

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

CHRIS 'Fireman' Brown, celebrating the birth of a baby girl with his wife Faith, opened his indoor campaign over the weekend at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games.

Brown, however, admitted that he slipped coming out of the blocks and wasn't able to recover as he ended up in fourth place in 48.36 seconds.

The race was won by American Bershawn Jackson in 46.86 with Trinidad & Tobago's Renny Quow second in 47.15 and American Jamal Torrence third n 48.00.

"My blocks slipped and they never called the race back," Brown said. "Indoors, you just have to be ready to go because once the gun goes, you only have a short time to do what you have to do.

"I had to work on maintaining my balance from not falling on my face, so I was disappointed that they didn't call it back. But I was impressed that I was still able to get back into the race."

Brown, who welcomed his daughter Emerald into the world on January 25, will be back in action this weekend at a meet in Arkansas where he hopes to improve on his time.

Meanwhile, over in Stuttgart, Germany at the Sparkassen Cup, the result wasn't that good as well for veteran sprinter Chandra Sturrup in the women's 60 final.

Sturrup, who is preparing to wind down her illustrious career, was disqualified in the race that was won by the Virgin Island's Laverne Jones-Ferrette in a world leading and meet record of 6.97.

American Carmelita Jeter took second in a season's best of 7.05 and Miryam Soumare of France was third in a European leading time of 7.29.

Sturrup ran 7.28 for third place in her heat behind Jeter's winning time of 7.12 and Soumare's 7.28. Jones-Ferrette won the other heat in 7.10.

A number of other Bahamians were in action in other meets across the United States, either competing unattached or for their respective colleges and universities.

Demetrius Pinder, who has posted times of 46.01 and 46.03 which are now the second and third fastest in the world so far (behind new leader Tabarie Henry's 45.81), won the men's 400 in 46.35 at the New Balance Invitational.

At the Huskies Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska, Grand Bahamian and newly wed Michael Mathieu got second in the men's 400 in 47.64 with fellow national team-mate Andretti Bain fifth in 48.17.

And Trevor Barry was second in the men's high jump with a leap of 2.19m or 7-2 1/4, while Shelly Brown, competing for Barton County Community College, was fifth in 1:23.70.

At the Texas Tech Invitational, Latoy Williams was second in the men's 600 in a record time of 1:08.53 for Texas Texas.

Bianca Stuart, a graduate of Southern Illiniois, successfully defended her women's long jump title at the 2010 McDonald's Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois.

Only this time, she competed unattached winning with a leap of 21-feet, 1 1/4-inches. She also competed in the 60, running 7.85, which would have qualified her for the final. But she was uneligible competing unattached.

At the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup at Pennsylvania State University, Auburn University's junior sprinter Sheniqua 'Q' Ferguson clocked 23.66 to win the women's 200, dipping under the NCAA provisional qualifying time of 23.66.

Grand Bahamian Nivea Smith and Cache Armbrister, a sophomore and junior competitor from Auburn as well, were second and sixth respectively in 23.76 and 24.48.

Smith also got fifth in the 60 in 7.58, while Armbrister ran the second leg on Auburn's 4 x 400 relay team that was second in their section in a provisional NCAA qualifying time of 3:39.85.

Krystal Bodie, a junior at Auburn, won the women's 60 hurdles in a NCAA provisional time of 8.30 after turning in the fastest qualifying time of 8.41. She also got 12th in the 60 in 7.73.

And on the field, Auburn's junior Gerard Brown came in fifth in the men's long jump with a leap of 6.84 metres or 22-feet, 5 1/4-inches and he was seventh in the triple jump with 14.24 m or 46-8 3/4, two spots behind South Florida's Antonio Bastian, who was fifth with 14.34m or 47-0 3/4.

At the Meyo Invitational, Louisville's Rudon Bastian took third place in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.60m or 24-11 1/4 and he was ninth in the triple jump with 14.53m or 47-8.

At the Cobber Invitational, Sean Pickstock tool the men's 400 in 48.70. He came back 90 minutes later and set a new Olson Forum Fieldhouse record in the 200 in 21.95. Jamal Forbes was third in 22.43. Forbes, however, won the 55 in 6.43.

Cordero Bonaby was third in the 55 in 6.65 and sixth in the 200 in 23.04; Mike Sands was eighth in the 200 in 23.83; Trevano Thompson sixth in the 600 in 1:23.40; Craig Charlow was third in the triple jump with 44-3/4 and Delroy Ennis was seventh in the weight throw with 58-0 1/4.

And at the NAU Inviational, sophomore Karlton Rolle came in second in the men's 200 in 21.66.