The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

GLASGOW, Scotland — While Jeffery Gibson made headlines as the first Bahamian to win a medal in track and field at the 20th Commonwealth Games, day nine saw a sprinkle of success as the other athletes competed through the rain and the cold.

At the Hampden Park National Stadium, Bianca ‘BB’ Stuart’s achievement in the preliminaries didn’t carry over to the final as she ended up in eighth place in the final of the women’s long lump.

On the track, Michael Mathieu, Teray Smith and Nivea Smith all bowed out in the semifinal of the 200 metres, while the debut for both Krystal Bodie and Demetria Edgecombe ended in their exit in the women’s 100m hurdles’ semifinals.

After winning his preliminary heats the day before, Mathieu came back in the semi-finals and had to settle for fourth place in 20.68 in his heat. That placed him 12th overall and out of the lane in the final.

“It was alright, but I didn’t get out as fast as I wanted to do,” Mathieu said. “I think the false start had something to do with it. I tried to come back on them, but it was too late.”

Mathieu was referring to the fact that his 200m heat was called back because of the disqualification of Ratu Banuve Tabakaucoro of Fiji. When it was re-run, Mathieu got left behind and he couldn’t catch the field that was led by Jamaica’s Warren Weir in 20.48. Weir went on to get second in a Jamaican sweep of the three medals in the final.

“I feel okay. This was just my fifth 200 for the whole year, so I’m just trying to get ready for next year,” said Mathieu, who noted that he can turn his attention on trying to help the Bahamas win the men’s 4 x 400 gold on Saturday.

A newcomer to the international scene, Smith got left in the blocks in his men’s 200m semis and he wasn’t able to reel in any of the runners in the leading pack as he finished seventh in 20.99 for 22nd overall. Before going on to clinch the bronze in the final, Jason Livermore won the heat in 20.47. The gold went to Rasheed Dwyer.

“I was excited. I’m still young, so I’m not going to beat myself over the situation,” said Smith, the youngest member of the track team at age 18. “This is my first senior team. I’m not mad. I’m happy that I got this experience.

“I know the next time I will be ready. My season has been different from these guys. I have indoor and outdoor college season, so I’m just happy that I came out here injury free.”

In August, Smith will be returning to Auburn University for his sophomore year where he is studying business management. He hopes to be back much faster.

In the women’s race, Nivea Smith posted her season’s best of 23.22 for fifth place in her heat. The time was the eighth fastest, but she didn’t advance because of the two fastest rule where the competitors who finish in third in the heats are considered for the final two spots first based on their times.

“It was a good race. It could have been faster, but I ended my season with a season’s best, so that is good enough for me,” the former Auburn University standout from Grand Bahama said.

“I had a lot of fun running out of lane eight. I tried to get off the curve as hard as I possibly could, but I didn’t see anything out there. I just went out to run and see if I could get into the final.”

Today, Smith said she’s eager to run again with the women’s pool for the 4 x 100 relay.

It was also the debut of Bodie and Edgecombe, who represent the future for the hurdles. Bodie did 13.71 for sixth in heat two and 6th overall. Edgecombe did 14.07 for sixth as well in heat one for 17th.

“It was okay. I had a little incident with my toe, so I just wanted to finish the race. But making it here was an achievement in itself,” said Bodie, who indicated that she couldn’t accelerate like she wanted because of the injury.

“Most of the time we don’t have hurdlers, so I think it was good that we had two here. Now I have to go back to the drawing board and get ready for the World Championships next year.”

The former student of Auburn University said it was cold and that made it even more difficult for her to compete.

For Edgecombe, this was also her first time competing for the Bahamas.

“I felt that I could do better, but my start wasn’t that good and I hit a hurdle and it was playing catch up from there to get back in the race,” she said. “I tried to get back in the rhythm, but nothing changed.”

Having the support of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, the senior at East Tennessee said she intends to go to the NACAC Under-23 Championships in Kamloops, Canada, August 8-10 and make up for her performance here.