The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AFTER much debate about whether the Bahamas would in fact be able to field a team for the Junior Pan Am Championships, a four-member team was finally named just days before competition.

The team includes middle distance runner Andre Colebrook, sprinter Tayla Carter and, in the field, throwers Ashley Oembler and Gerrard Burrows.

The 17th Pan Am Junior Championships in Athletics is set for August 23-25 in Medellin, Colombia. The team is scheduled to depart for competition today and return on August 27.

BAAA treasurer Philippa Arnett-Willie disclosed the much anticipated team members yesterday in an e-mail.

“On behalf of the BAAA executives, we wish to thank you and all those who supported the efforts of trying to arrange for the athletes’ travels to the Jr Pan Am in Medellin, Colombia. We knew from early in the season that we would possibly face difficulty with arrangement of a team due to the scheduling of the games being held so late in August and around the time of students returning to school, high school or colleges respectively,” she said.

“The executive board wishes to advise that the ground work for the Jr Pan Am team preceded the departure of the World Championship team in spite of the challenges we faced and much work was entailed in inquiring whether athletes who qualified for the team would be able or willing to travel. When the task of confirmations was completed, the team was finalised.”

Colebrook, the national junior record holder in the 800 metres, leads the contingent. In March, his time of 1:50.81 seconds set the national record at the Vertklasse meet, surpassed the time of 1:52.27 set by Olympian Ramon Miller in Windsor, Canada, on July 29, 2005.

In a year that included his freshman season at Essex Community College, Colebrook captured a CARIFTA silver medal, silver at NJCAA Indoors Championships and a BAAA national championship in the 800m.

Carter will compete in the 100m/200m sprint double in Medellin. She has delivered a season’s best time of 11.57s, recorded back in April in Auburn, Alabama, and a 200m time of 23.70s in May in Greensboro, North Carolina.

She appeared at the 14th IAAF World Juniors in 2012 and reached the semifinal where she ran 11.76s.

Oembler and Burrows each recorded their season’s and personal best for the College of the Bahamas Caribs at the Miami Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida. Both will compete in the discus.

Oembler boasts a personal best of 40.70m while Burrows has tossed 46.04m.

According to a press release issued by the Association of Pan American Athletics, over 600 athletes from 47 countries are expected to compete at the meet.

“It is a challenging city that represents the best opportunity to prove the ability of our athletes, those who live in Medellin and athletics entities in Antioquia, Colombia and America, who have articulated efforts to bring to fruition a company like this, large, with high expectations of success,” said Julio Roberto G�mez Gait�n, CEO of the meet.

In 33 years since its inception, there have been 16 championships. The inaugural event was in the Canadian city of Sudbury in 1980 and the most recent was held in Miramar, USA, in 2011. In 2015, the event will be hosted in Edmonton, Canada.