The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With the success of Steven Gardiner and Shaunae Miller-Uibo at the Olympic Games still fresh in the minds of many, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations is hoping that the nine-member team to the World Junior Championships will provide some more excitement.

The team, made up of five males and four females, is scheduled to depart on Friday for the championships for athletes under-20 that will take place from August 17-22.

The team members are as follows:

Males - Carlos Brown (100 and 200 metres); Lamont Moss (200); Wendell Miller (200/400m); Antoine Andrews (110m hurdles) and Keyshawn Strachan (javelin).

Females - Camille Rutherford (100 and 200m); Lacarthea Cooper (100/200m); Alexis Tilford-Rutherfdord (long jump) and Rhema Otabor (javelin).

Although there were other qualifiers, head coach Bernard Rolle said the other athletes were unable to travel because of their school commitments. But he said he’s confident that Team Bahamas will make an impact, despite its size. “We are excited and we have a great crop of athletes, the best the country has to offer,” Rolle saood. “So I’m looking forward to some great competition, looking forward to the guys and girls just stepping up to the challenge.

“It’s been a long season. The athletes have been preparing for a while now, from August or September last year to August again, so that’s about 12 months. I know they are kind of tired now, but we have some good coaches and well trained athletes, so we’re ready for the challenge.”

Once the athletes make it through the rounds, Rolle said he’s confident that they =will do very well once they advance to their finals.

Also traveling with the team are co-managers Laketah Charlton and Sharon Gardiner; assistant coaches Darron Lighrtbourne and Corrington Maycock; medical personnel Dr. Avery Hanna; physiotherapist Miichael Armbrister and Covid-19 liaison officer Laura Charlton.

“In our group, we have two junior national record holders in Keyshawn Strachan and Wendell Miller,” Laketah Charlton said. “We are expecting great results from these athletes. They are ready and they are prepared to go. We are expecting great things and we will make the Bahamas proud.”

Sharon Gardiner, who will also double up as the assistant liaison officer, said there are several protocols in place that they must adhere to in order to compete in the championships.

Before the team leaves, each member must have a clean PCR testing which has to be uplifted into the website. Upon arrival in Kenya, they will be tested again.

“If by chance on arrival, if somebody is tested positive for Covid-19, our entire team will be tested again with a PCR testing,” Gardiner said. “However, if we are all clean, we will only be tested every 48 hours. It is important. You cannot duck the trsting. If you do, your credentials will be canceled.”

Additionally, Gardiner said the BAAA have established a buddy system for Team Bahamas where each athlete is assigned to an administrator, who is responsible for knowing their whereabouts at all times and ensuring that they are wearing their masts and following the safety protocol measures in place in Nairobi,

“Where we can not find them or there is any breach of the protocols established by Team Bahamas management, a report will come back to our country letting them know that person is not following the protocols,” she stated.

Lightrbourne, a former junior athlete who represented the Bahamas at the Junior Pan American Championships, said he’s encouraging all of the athletes to go out there and do their personal best and they should be able to medal regardless of who is there.

“Just stay focused. Go out there and do your best,” he said to the athletes. “We only expect your best. No one is going to put any pressure on you. Although we want you to come home with the gold medal, just go out there and do your best.”

Brown, considered the top junior male sprinter in high school this year, said he’s just looking forward to going to the championships, doing his best and bringing home the gold medal.

“I’m not really nervous, but I’m prepared,: he said. “I think we have an alright team. We had to run our best and throw our best to qualify to come out on top.”

All season long, he’as been improving as the top male javelin thrower, not just on the local scene, but in the Bahamas overall. But Strachan knows that he will have to throw further than he’s ever done to get on the podium in Nairobi.

“I’m ready for Kenya. I was training very hard for it. I’m going to put my best foot forward in practice and competition and pray that I come out on top,” he proclaimed. “I’ve been working on my technique because I want to come out with the gold medal.”

And going to Kenya with what he called the “best athletes,” Strachan said the team is poised to do very well. In preparation for the championships, Strachan participated in the NACAC Championships in the Under-23 division where he improved his national record to 72 metres.

Cooper, who had to skip the recent trip to Tokyo, Japan for the Olympic Games, said after she couldn’t travel because of Covid-19, she’s more eager to go to Kenya and represent the Bahamas to the best of her ability.

“I’m not scared, never,” she emphasized.

As for Team Bahamas, she claimed it is a closely knitted one because they are all “very close,” She summed up that they have the potential to come back and bring home a lot of medals, especially gold.