The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Top junior versatile sprinter/ hurdler/jumper Anthaya Charlton will be the latest track and field athlete to join the Bahamian track and field connection at the University of Kentucky.

Charlton, the youngest sister of hurdler Devynne Charlton, has signed her letter of intent to compete for Kentucky where she will join the Bahamian led Rolando ‘Greene (head coach), Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (assistant coach) and fellow team-mates quarter-miler Megan Moss (sophomore) and sprinter Jaida Knowles (freshman) on the Wildcats’ track and field team.

Incidentally, Devynne Charlton, who graduated from Purdue where Greene previously coached her, has also reunited with her former college coach last year to train with the Wildcats, so the younger Charlton will find herself in some pretty good company when she heads to college next year.

While she officially signed on November 11, the University of Kentucky just released her acceptance as Charlton, who returned to St Augustine’s College for grade 12 after leaving a year ago for grade 11 at St Anne’s High School, is now preparing for her enrolment in August, 2021.

“My sister Devynne is training there now, so it’s best for me to be close to family,” said Charlton, stating the reasons for her decision. “The head coach, Lonnie Greene, is a Bahamian, so it would provide me with adequate training.

“I don’t know if I want to go pro (become a professional athlete), but it would help in case I decide to. Plus, I’m happy to have some Bahamians there as my team-meters, who were also team-mates of mine at SAC, I’m guaranteeing a friend or two and I won’t be alone there.”

Charlton, 17, hopes to pursue a degree in business management with a minor in computer science. At 5-feet, 7-inches. she has produced a lifetime best of 11.51 seconds in the 100 metres, 5.98 metres or 19-feet, 71/2-inches in the long jump and 13.80 in the 100m hurdles. “I’m hoping to become an All-American, get some (championship) rings and win some conference (titles),” she said.

“I hope to concentrate mostly on the sprints a little bit of jumps. I don’t think I want to do any hurdles (which is the speciality of her sister, Devynne).”

Her father/coach David Charlton, a former 400m hurdler from Grand Bahama who competed for Howard University, said he’s liking the savings by his daughters attaining full athletic scholarships. His oldest daughter Lauren, attended Michigan State University.

“I am very proud of her,” he said. “First of all, I want her to take care of her academics and then set herself up for the rest of her life with a degree. She has a lot of potential. She has a lot of good work ethics and I’m sure coach Greene is going to get the best out of her.

“She is working at a high level, so the expectations are there and I believe she can beat it.”

Although they have not been able to use the facilities at the Thomas A Robinson Stadiums, Charlton said they have had the use of a local church grounds and so they had to change up their routine a bit. “We’ve not had the opportunity to go through the long jump practice that she needs with coach James (Rolle), but I’m confident that he will have her ready for CARIFTA and I’m sure she will do very well,” said Charlton of the top regional junior track and field meet, set for Bridgetown, Barbados, over the Easter holiday weekend.

At last year’s games at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex in George Town, Cayman Islands, Charlton completed the under-17 division with a pair of gold medals in the 100m (11.51) and the long jump (5.81m) as well as a bronze in the 100m hurdles (13.83). She was hoping to move up to the under-20 division this year, but the games in the Cayman Islands were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Having her father as her coach has been quite beneficial for Charlton. “It wasn’t difficult to train as with some other people because at least he could train me with us being in the same house and we don’t have to worry about the social distancing,” she said. “We have some space near us so we were able to get in or train. I think I only stopped for about two weeks at the most.”

Her mother, Laura Charlton, said she too is excited about her daughter’s achievement because she has seen her put in the work on and off the track. “That’s all we ask for, that she does what is necessary to be sure that at the end of her high school tenure, she would be in a position to get a full scholarship and she did just that,” she said. “So we’re extremely proud of her.