Mathias, Smith to compete in NACAC U-23 Championships in Canada

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

 Two BVI athletes — Eric Mathias and Ludence Smith — will wrap up their 2004 season at the North American Central American and Caribbean Under 23 championships in Sherbrooke, Canada, that began on Thursday and ends on Sunday.

Currently a junior at Boise State University, Mathias, a field events specialist will contest the Discus Throw. Smith, a graduate of Central Arizona College bound for the University of New Orleans, is entered in the 800 meters. In his last outing in early June, Mathias established a personal best and BVI national discus record in his last competition when he tossed the platter 183 feet 3 inches, at a meet in Boise. The mark eclipsed his best of 172 feet 1 inch from 2002. Smith was second in the 800 meters with a time of 1 minute, 58.42 seconds at the Frankie Colon Memorial in Puerto Rico on July 17.

Ahead of Wednesday’s team departure, BVI Amateur Athletics Association president Ephraim Penn said:“We are looking forward for those two athletes going because they are almost to the periphery of being senior athletes and it’s a very good experience for them. We feel that they are ready to take this step and go to the other level.” The meet was introduces as an Under 25 championships in 2002 but has since focused on the under 23 athlete. Dion Crabbe won bronze medals in both the 100 and 200 meters when the meet was held in San Antonio, Texas. Penn said the championships gives athletes in the region and the BVI in particular the opportunity to continue developing athletes who are no longer juniors and who are not possibly at the top of their senior level to move on to a higher level.

Association vice president Rey O’Neal who accompanied the team along with coach Dag Samuels, said initially, four athletes were being considered. Adriana Herbert however, was injured in the July 17 Frankie Colon meet and Kevin Fahie had not recovered fully from the injury he sustained at the OECS Relays.

In scouting the competition, O’Neal, a member of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians, says Mathias should do well at the competition. “I was going through the statistics and if you take away the two American throwers if indeed there are two, there’s only one other thrower who has gone beyond his best mark in the Discus this year and that’s Grenada Alleyne Lett,” O’Neal noted. “It’s left to be seen what events Alleyene is going to do. We’re looking for a good performance from Eric.”

O’Neal said Smith is an athlete who has started to blossom this year, but is still a ways away from where they think he’ll eventually get. “I think that the experience will be helpful for him and I’m looking for him to maybe run another 1 minute 55.”