The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Carl Hield gave it a gallant effort but, despite falling short of the gold, he completed his goal of returning home from the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games with a medal, while the men’s national volleyball team finally won a game to capture sixth place.

As the games came to a close over the weekend in Veracruz, Mexico, the 28-year-old Hield improved on the bronze medal he won four years ago at the event in Maracaibo, Puerto Rico.

In his final match at the World Trade Center on Saturday on the last of the 16-day competition, Hield lost out on points to Cuban Roniel Iglesias in the 69 kilogram or welterweight divisional final.

Hield’s lone feat in boxing was added to the bronze won by high jumper Ryan Ingraham in track and field and the four gold and two silver by Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and Joanna Evans respectively in swimming.

The eight medals enabled the Bahamas to finish in eighth place on the medal chart with the best showing by an English-speaking country. The next best showing from the Caribbean came from Trinidad & Tobago with 11 medals for 11th. They collected two gold, one silver and eight bronze.

Cuba topped the list with 248 medals (120 gold, 64 silver and 64 bronze). Mexico followed with 325 (111, 105, 109) and Colombia ended up in third with 220 (69, 74, 77).

VOLLEYBALL

AFTER losing all three of their games in the Pool B of the round robin play, the men’s national volleyball team dropped all the way to the bottom of the pile where they faced Colombia in the crossover playoffs. Colombia emerged out of Pool A where they were third with a 1-2 record.

With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Team Bahamas prevailed, taking their frustration out on Colombia with a 32-30, 27-25, 25-19 victory in a match that lasted one hour and 27 minutes.

That propelled the team to play for their best showing of fifth place on Sunday. However, in the playoff match against Venezuela, Team Bahamas lost 25-13, 25-13, 25-14 to end up in sixth place overall.

During the round robin, Team Bahamas lost 25-20 25-16 25-15 to Cuba, 25-12 25-15 25-10 to Puerto Rico and 25-12 21-25 25-13 25-17 to Venezuela.

In total, Team Bahamas scored 155 points but gave up 246 for an average of 0,630 and they only won one out of 10 sets played for an average of 1 9 0,111.

In addition to swimming, boxing and track and field, Team Bahamas had athletes who competed in sailing, rowing, tennis, bowling, cycling and judo.