The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ALL three Bahamians in action in the pool yesterday advanced out of the heats into the final of their respective events at the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico.

Today, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace will be going for her second medal as she is joined by Ariel Weech as they both contest the final of the women’s 100 metre freestyle.

In the second of three heats yesterday, Weech came in second in a time of 57.32 seconds and Vanderpool-Wallace followed in a winning time of 55.55 in the last heat for the fastest qualifying time. Weech’s time was fifth overall.

In today’s final, Weech will swim out of lane two and Vanderpool-Wallace, still reeling from her gold medal performance in the 50m butterfly on Sunday, will be competing out of lane four.

Also in action was Elvis Burrows in the men’s 50m butterfly. Swimming out of the second of three heats, Burrows posted a second place finish in 24.31, which booked him a lane in the final. He ended up with the third fastest qualifying time and will swim in today’s final out of lane three.

Cora Hepburn, the chef de mission, said everything is going well for Team Bahamas, despite the fact that it’s very windy in Mexico.

“They get very, very windy on and off, which makes it very difficult especially for sports like cycling and at the swim pool where a lot of things are flying around,” Hepburn said.

In her role, Hepburn said she has the responsibility of ensuring that the athletes are all comfortable.

“I’m very pleased with the conditions that have been arranged for them,” Hepburn said. “For the last few days when we got here, we were staying at the Holiday Inn. But we have been transferred to their sister hotel, the Holiday Inn Express because they needed more rooms.

“But the conditions of the rooms are the same. I’m very pleased with the conditions of the hotel that we are in. There is no Games Village here. Everybody is staying in different hotels.”

Today, in addition to the three finalists mentioned above, the swim team, coached by Andy Knowles, will be in three preliminaries with Margaret Albury competing in the 200m breaststroke, Joanna Evans will be in the 400m medley and Vanderpool-Wallace in the 100m butterfly.

Judo, featuring siblings Cynthia and D’Arcy Rahming Jr and coached by D’Arcy Rahming Sr, will begin competition on Thursday.

Boxing, with the three-member team of Carl Hield, Godfrey Strachan and Rashield Williams, coached by Andre and Floyd Seymour leaving on Wednesday, will begin competition on Friday along with the sailing team of Michelle Hope, Paul De Souza and Robert Dunkley, managed by Lori Lowe.

The cycling team of Anthony ‘Biggie’ Colebrooke, Jay Major and D’Angelo Sturrup, coached by Keith Lloyd, have completed their time trials and will be competing in the road race on Sunday.

Both the athletic (Petra McDonald, Katrina Seymour, Adrian Griffith, Jamial Rolle, Wesley Neymour, Ryan Ingraham, Jamal Wilson, Alfredo Smith, Raymond Higgs, Lathone Collie-Minns and Delroy Iniss, coached by Rupert Gardiner and Ronald Cartwright) and the tennis (Kerrie Cartwright, Larikah Russell, Danielle Thompson, Justin Lunn, Philip Major, Devin Mullings and Marvin Rolle) teams are scheduled to start on Monday, November 24.

Starting on Tuesday, November 25 will be bowling (Xynea Johnson, Janice Lockhart, Marina McClain, Camille Rolle, Leonardo Davis, Sonith Lockhart, Byron McClain, Johann Pyfrom and David Slatter, coached by Joanne Woodside-Powell and Kelsey Rolle) team, the men’s volleyball (Gaege Smith, Prince Wilson, Renaldo Knowles, Romel Lightbourn, JeVaughn Saunders, Jamaal Fergusn, Byron Ferguson, Endierich Rahming, Alton Rolle, Lorenzo Williams, Shonari Hepburn and Shedrick Forbes, coached by DeVince Smith and Lloyd Davis) and rowing.

“The competition here is extremely high,” Hepburn said.

“Colombia, Mexico and Cuba are performing very well here. So there’s a lot of competition here. I don’t think we will have all of the high level of competitors in track and field when they start.

“But for all of the other sports, especially swimming, there are a lot of high calibre of athletes competing here.”