The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Coach Henry Rolle liked what he saw from the Bahamas' relay teams at the 2012 Penn Relays on Saturday. However, he admitted that they all have some work to do in order to be ready for the London Olympics in August.

Rolle, who was assisted by a cadre of coaches including Dianne Woodside, Tyrone Burrows, Dave Charlton and George Cleare, said they did the best they could with what they had to work with in the showdown dubbed 'USA versus the World."

While they had a seasoned men's 4 x 400 relay team that finished second behind the US, both the youthful women and men's 4 x 100 teams had to settle for fifth and seventh overall.

The teams were afforded the opportunity to compete at the prestigious relay festival by the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations with the view of ensuring that they secured one of the 16 top times in the world to secure a berth at the Olympics.

The men's 4 x 400 team of Demetrius Pinder, Ramon Miller, Michael Mathieu and Chris Brown ran three minutes and 00.56 seconds to finish in second just behind the United States' team of Calvin Smith, Angelo Taylor, Bershawn Jackson and LaShawn Merritt, who won in 3:00.15.

It was the top two times in the world so far this year. "We made our presence felt. The US coaches said they didn't think that we were that good but we opened their eyes and they are on their guard for the Olympics," Rolle said.

"That was the point. We wanted to make a statement and we made our presence felt. We knew that the only way we could beat them was to run out front and let them chase us. LaShawn Merritt and Bershawn Jackson both ran unbelievable splits and that was where they got us."

Despite how well they performed, Rolle said if he had to give them a grade it would have to be a B, simply because he said he knew they could do much better.

As for the women's 4 x 100 team, which had veteran Chandra Sturrup on the sidelines, the combo of V'Alonee Robinson, Sheniqua 'Q' Ferguson, Nivea Smith and Anthonique Strachan finished fifth in 44.14.

That time has placed the Bahamas sixth on the IAAF performance list that is headed by the US, whose team of Madison Tianna, Felix Allyson, Knight Bianca and Jeter Carmelita won the world's best time of 42.19.

"Chandra was unable to run and Tynia Gather had a sore hamstring so I didn't want to put her in a situation where she has a conference next week and she would not be able to compete," Rolle said.

"So we had to insert V'Alonee who was there at the last minute or we would not have had a team. That was the best we could have done with that team. Once we get the key members on the team, we will be okay."

For their efforts, Rolle said he gave them a C-minus.

The men's 4 x 100 team of Michael Mathieu, Jamial Rolle, Warren Fraser and Jonathan Farquharson ran 39.68 for seventh place. That placed the Bahamas in a two-way tie for seventh with Australia.

Jamaica's team of Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake, Kimmari Roach and Usain Bolt has posted the fastest time in the world of 37.82.

"I was really impressed with how the young guys on the men's 4 x 1 team handled themselves, especially Jonathan Farquharson. He was poised, he was confident and he followed directions," Rolle said.

"Warren was the same way. He was aggressive. They were both patriotic. Most of the members of the team, including Chandra, were very co-operative.

"I was really impressed with the younger ones like Anthonique Strachan, Warren Fraser and Jonathan Farquharson."

Rolle gave the men's 4 x 1 team a C grade.

Having seen what the athletes are capable of doing, Rolle said the coaching staff is now working on putting together the best possible teams to compete in two more meets in Brazil on May 16 and 20.

"I will go back and look at all of the results over the last month and put together a pool to take to Brazil for the two meets. These will be our last two meets prior to the trials," Rolle said.

"But the efforts we gave this weekend really helped pulled us through because we moved our 4 x 4 from ninth place to seventh when you calculate the average of the two best performances for the year.

"It also moved the women's 4 x 1 from being unranked to 16th. But to stay in the top 16, we have to compete again because there are still a lot of countries that haven't competed yet."

As for the men's 4 x 1, Rolle said they are still unranked, which means that they will definitely have to compete in Brazil to get in their two marks for an official calculated posting.

The BAAA is also hoping to have a women's 4 x 4 team in London but Rolle said that is going to be a tall order because the first goal is to get four women and then they have to run at least 52 seconds or better each to be considered.

• The deadline for the final teams to be ratified to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games is July 16.