The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

It’s not how you start, nor how you get there. Most importantly, it’s how you finish

• The Finish Line, a weekly column, seeks to comment on the state of affairs in local sports, highlighting the highs and the lows, the thrills and the spills and the successes and failures.

The week that was

So far, there are a number of qualifiers in the traditional events for the Olympic Games that will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August.

Over the weekend, three more were added to the list as Pedrya Seymour cleared the women’s 100 metre hurdles in 12.92 seconds at the Big Ten Conference Meet in Lincoln, Nebraska. The qualifying standard was 13.00.

The significance of the performance was the fact that Seymour also became the first Bahamian female to crack the 13-second barrier, eclipsing the national record that was shared by both Devynne Charlton and Adanaca Brown last year.

So far, we’ve heard the news that Charlton will be missing in action after she went down with an injury that will sideline her for the remainder of the season.

There’s no word on Brown’s progress so far this year.

Seymour has been the hottest competitor this year, having gotten her first taste of international competition when she competed at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

At this point in the season, Seymour is sitting tied in 25th on the IAAF performance list. So bearing the fact that the majority of the leaders ahead of her are from the United States, she seems to be in pretty good company going into the Rio Games.

 Another qualifier at the meet was Charlton’s Purdue University teammate Carmiesha Cox. She bolted onto the list when she clocked 23.16 in the preliminaries of the women’s 200m to dip under the qualifying standard of 23.20.

So far this year, only Tynia Gaither has ran a qualifying time. She did 22.74 in Westwood, California. However, Shaunae Miller, who has not yet decided on which event she will compete in, ran a wind-aided 22.12.

Miller also has posted the fastest time of all qualifiers when she did 22.14 last year. Both Anthonique Strachan (22.69) and Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson (23.03) qualified last year. They’re still waiting to post their fresh times this year.

With that crop of sprinters, if they are all healthy, the Bahamas could be in a position to contend for a medal in the women’s 4 x 100m relay with the team having earned their berth last year.

Veteran sprinter Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie has indicated that she’s training to make the team this year. If she does, she can provide some leadership that is needed for the young competitors.

That should make for an interesting match-up when the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations hosts the National Track and Field Championships next month.

The other qualifier came from Jamial Rolle in the men’s 100m in Clermont, Florida. Rolle clocked 10.16 to follow on the heels of Adrian Griffith, who did a personal best of 10.12 in Clermont on April 30. The two, along with Shavez Hart, who also ran 10.12 last year, have matched or surpassed the qualifying time of 10.16.

The trio represents another crop of sprinters who have been knocking on the door of international stardom since national record holder Derrick Atkins broke the ice, winning a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan, in 2007.

The Bahamas is also hoping that the men’s 4 x 100m relay team will also compete in the Olympics, once all of the sprinters are healthy. So it’s starting to shape up for an interesting showdown when the Nationals are held in June.

The Bahamas also has qualifiers in the men’s 200m, 400, 400m hurdles, high jump, triple jump and the 4 x 400m relay. On the women’s side, the Bahamas’ other qualifiers are in the 100, 400 and long jump.

In other sports, Emily Morley has broken grounds earning a trip to the Olympics as the first Bahamian rower and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace is the only A qualifier in swimming, but there are two B qualifiers in Elvis Burrows and Dustin Tynes, who are waiting to see if they make the cut.