By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
HAVING watched the success of our elite high jumpers last year, rising teenager Ryan Ingraham said he's prepared to join in the battle for a spot on the team that will represent the Bahamas at the Olympic Games in London, England in August.
In his season opener on Friday night at the T-Bird Flyers Invitational at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium, Ingraham began his trek towards the world's biggest sporting spectacular with a leap of 2.15 metres or 7-feet 1/2-iinch to win the men's high jump. In out-performing his Leap of Faith Track Club's team-mate Kyle Mackey (who did 1.98m or 6-6), Ingraham has unofficially booked his ticket to the Carifta Games in Hamilton, Bermuda, over the Easter holiday weekend; the Junior Central American and Caribbean Championships in June in San Salvador in El Salvador and the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, both in July after he surpassed the qualifying standards.
But Ingraham said his ultimate goal is to be in London in August for the Olympics. He missed the B qualifying standard of 2.28m (7-5 3/4), but will have to jump the A standard of 2.31m (7-7), which has already been attained by IAAF World Champion Trevor Barry and former world champion Donald Thomas. In order to join them in London, Ingraham will have to achieve the A standard as once an athlete has qualified at the A standard, a country can send two other athletes who match the same height or better.
"I didn't have any competition, so I wasn't worried about qualifying for the other meets," said Ingraham, a 2010 graduate of the CI Gibson Secondary School where he also played on their Rattlers' senior boys basketball team. "I really want to qualify for the Olympics." Ingraham, who turned 18 on November 2, said as the season progresses and his coach James Rolle (a former national team high jumper) prepare him for the international meets he already qualified for, he's confident that he can soar to the Olympic qualifying mark.
"I just want to get better in every meet that I compete in," Ingraham stressed. In the two-day meet, the first major one on the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations' 2012 calendar (following on the heels of last year's Odd Distance Meet that got the season started), Ingraham was joined by a number of field competitors, who also attained the qualifying marks in their respective events for Carifta. They were Derexel Maycock in the under-17 boys' discus; Kawian Culmer in the under-17 boys triple jump and Brashae Wood in the under-17 girls shot put.
Maycock, a 16-year-old 11th grader at the CR Walker Secondary High, struck twice with a Carifta qualifier, first on Friday in the shot put with a heave of 15.21m (49-11) to go well over the QM of 13.10m (42-11 3/4). He came back on Saturday and tossed the discus 53m (17310), which was well over the QM of 41m (134-6).
"Today was sort of a windy day, so I had to throw a little flat," Maycock reflected on Saturday's performance. "On my first throw, I went out and did what I had to do, so I was pretty much pleased. Yesterday (Friday), I performed very well in the shot shot. So I'm really glad that I got the qualifying marks for the Carifta Games.
Since I qualified, I'm going to go back to practice on work even harder on throwing further in both of my events." For Culmer, a 10th grader at St. Augustine's College, he popped a winning leap of 13.93m (45-8 1/2) to soar past the Carifta mark of 13.70m (44-11 1/2). The 15-year-old member of a Leap of Faith Track Club said his performance was just a tip of the iceberg.
"I felt good, but I know I could do better. I hope to perform better at the Carifta Games," said Culmer, who accomplished his qualifying
feat on his first jump. "I'm just glad that I qualified. Now I want to go to Carifta and break the record (of 15.03m or 49.3 3/4).
Also on Friday, Brashae Wood, a 15-year-old member of Club Monica, tossed the under-17 girls' shot 11.14m or 36-6 3/4 to go over the Carifta QM of 11m or 36-1 1/4.
The performances on the field overshadowed those on the track as many of the top athletes who competed were just getting started. In some cases, some of the athletes opted not to compete in their specialties, but rather did events that were either shorter or longer as they worked on certain aspects of their races.
The athletes will now have two weeks off before they return to the track to compete in the Star Trackers' meet on February 4.
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