The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the focus of the track and field world will be on the star-studded, elite level athletes descending on the Bahamas for the BTC/IAAF World Relays 2015, it provides a special opportunity to present the future of local junior athletes.

Team Bahamas’ list of athletes for the second edition of the meet will feature several junior sprinters, on a team which officials called a cross- section between youth and experience.

Fresh off their recent CARIFTA triumph, athletes like Shaquania Dorsett, Javan Martin, Keianna Albury, Brianne Bethel and  Adanaca Brown will attempt to stake their claim on the world stage.

“We have a very impressive list of young athletes ready to make their debut on the world stage. I am talking about outstanding junior athletes, I am talking about athletes like Tyla Carter, Moore’s Island sensation Steven Gardiner and others,” said BAAA president Mike Sands.

“To those athletes that have qualified themselves to make Team Bahamas it shows us that the future of Team Bahamas is in great hands. We actually had an athlete that had the capability and could have made this team, but because of IAAF standards she was too young. So the future of track in the country is great. This event, the magnitude of this event, and the fact that many of our junior athletes will participate with Team Bahamas will continue to inspire them toward their goals.”

Last weekend, hundreds of student athletes throughout the country took to the track at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium to contest the 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m and sprint medley relays.

The event served as a qualifier and test event leading up to the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2015. The top eight male and female teams in the 4x100m, 4x200m and 4x400m relays will qualify for the “One Lane, One School” high school segment of the world relays on Sunday, May 3.

It was also a major part of the selection process for Saturday’s junior segment of the world relays where student athletes represent their respective islands in the “One Island, One Lane” competition.

Both junior segments will precede the main event, beginning 5pm. “The theme for our junior programme is to inspire the next generation,” Sands said. “With that perspective, we are hoping that those junior athletes aspire to be the next in the great list of names. The fact that they will be in the same arena as them, will interact with them, we hope it will inspire them in their career to continue on as great junior athletes.”

The BAAA team selection for this year’s relays come at the completion of the aforementioned high school relays.

The BAAA included events for the women’s and men’s 100, 200 and 400 metres in a bid to give athletes a last chance meet to run one of the top eight times, which the BAAA is hoping to use as a guideline as there was no official trials or qualifying standards.

With the exception of ‘Golden Knight’ Ramon Miller, who made his debut after suffering an injury at the initial World Relays, and sprinter V’Alonee Robinson, none of the elite athletes competed in the meet.