The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT was an awesome performance from Rhema Otabor in the Hurricane Invitational at the University of Miami’s Cobb Stadium in Coral Gables, Florida.

The Florida International University freshman got a winning toss of 177-feet, 09-inches or 54.19 metres in the javelin on her first attempt to shatter the Bahamas junior national record of 47.52m that was established by Tracy Morrison at the CARIFTA Games in Guadeloupe in 2006.

In the process, Otabor also surpassed the under-20 girls’ CARIFTA qualifying standard of 38.39m, NACAC Under-23 mark of 51.88m, Pan American standard of 46.00m and the World Under-20 standard of 50.50m.

“I’m very happy with the performance. I worked very hard,” Otabor said.

“I did what I set out to do going into the meet, so I’m very happy about it.”

Otabor, the 17-year-old graduate of Nassau Christian Academy, said she was extremely pleased with the performance, considering that the NACAC mark was the hardest to achieve and she’s now ranked at number two in the NCAA outdoors.

“Hopefully as the season progresses, I will get even better,” she said.

“Because I opened so great, it has relieved the pressure off me and the goals that I had for the other meets, so now I can just focus on my technique and getting better.”

With hardly any fans in the meet, Otabor said she didn’t even have that much competition, except for her team-mates as the nearest rival to her was Dina Costic, who did 139-09 (42.60m) on her first attempt.

After fouling her second attempt she came back with heaves of 50.04m and 49.28m, all better than her rivals, before she fouled the final two attempts.

Otabor’s Blue Chip Athletics coach Corrington Maycock, who made the trek to watch the performance, said he was not surprised at all by what he saw.

“I’m excited about the World Under-20 than any other meet because there is the possibility that she could win a medal,” Maycock said.

“She will progress even further because I always believed she was a hell of an athlete and she’s proving that. One thing about Rhema, she strives on the competition and you could see it in her performances at CARIFTA.”

Coakley and Oriakhi

take the spotlight

University of Miami’s Xavier Coakley, a redshirt senior transfer from Auburn University out of St Augustine’s College, won the men’s 110m hurdles in 14.29 seconds with Raymond Oriakhi, a sophomore at Pittsburgh, placing fourth in 15.37m.

Oriakhi, another graduate from St Augustine’s College, also got fourth in the 400m hurdles in 55.07. The winning time was 51.85 by McKinly Brown, a senior of Miami.

Alcine soars in high jump

at UTSA Invitational

At the 2021 UTSA Invitational at the UTSA Park West Athletics Complex, Kyle Alcine won the men’s high jump with a leap of 6-11 (2.11m).

Alcine, a senior at Kansas State out of Cloud County Community College, nipped out three competitors, who all followed at 6-09 (2.09m).

Also at the meet, Shakeem Smith, a senior at UTEP out of Doris Johnson Secondary High, finished third in the men’s 400m hurdles in 52.89 after he placed third in the fastest of the two heats contested.