Another banner weekend for BVI track and field athletes

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

BVI athletes continued their strong showing this season over the weekend at competitions in the United States and Antigua. Tahesia Harrigan shattered her 200 meter national record, while the BVI was second at the Leeward Islands Jr. Championships in Antigua, where Jackhel King had a break through performance in the 200 meters and Chantel Malone, who easily won the Under 17 Female division, added Most Outstanding Female Athlete of the Meet honors.

Harrigan punched her ticket to the June 8-11, NCAA Division I Championships at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif., after establishing a 200 meter BVI national with a third place finish, following a fourth place 100 meter showing at the NCAA Mid East Regional Championships in Bloomington, Indiana, on Saturday.

Running from lane eight, Harrigan sped to a career best 23.25 seconds 200 meter time to shatter her 23.46 mark established in Madison Wisconsin, on May 19, 2002, during the Big 10 Conference Championships. She advanced to the finals following a 23.83 third place run in the semifinals.

“I was really surprised, too surprised actually. I was kind of upset that I ran a personal best in the 200 and wasn’t able to do so in the 100,” Harrigan explained, noting her focus is now on the NCAA Championships. “In terms of the performance, all I’m trying to do is to build on it. I will take what I did this weekend, try to improve on it, and hopefully, the times will come out.”

Harrigan won her 100 meter heat in 11.48 before settling for fourth in 11.42. “In the 100 I was a bit sick and I was down before I started running,” she said. “My start wasn’t as good, but I got it together, got in my zones in the middle of the race and kind of lost in the end and that caused me the victory.”

In the Long Jump which she rated as ‘mediocre’ after leaping 5.95 meters (19’6¼”) but did not advance to the finals, Harrigan said it was because that event took place immediately after the 100 meters. “The meet was behind schedule,” she noted. “Since I had to go and run the 100 right after, I was a little exhausted from that.”

Heading to nationals, Harrigan said she’s more positive about the 100 meters than the 200. She said if she can put a good race together, she will run a fast time. “In terms of execution, my start has to be good. I need to be able to make the transition from my drive to my acceleration phase and be able to hold or maintain my top end speed towards the end, rather than breaking down like I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks.” She pointed out. “I’m more or less focusing on the 100 at nationals but, my coach thinks I should be able to run a very good time in the 200. Hopefully, that will work out too and I will qualify all the way to the finals.”

Cal State Northridge Jr. Kevin Fahie anchored his 4 x 100 meter relay team to a third place finish in 40.96 seconds, in the West Regional at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The team unfortunately failed to carry the baton through the zone in the final.

Meanwhile, the BVI finished second in the weekend Leeward Islands Jr. track and field championships behind hosts Antigua on Sunday, during the competition held at the Yasco Sports Complex in St. Johns.

The BVI had ten individual event winners—including eight in the field events—several personal and seasons bests performances, to amass 108.5 points, with Antigua the clear winner on 164. Nevis had 61.5, the U.S. Virgin Islands 31, Anguilla 24 and Montserrat 7.

Jackhel King moved to number two on the all time BVI Female 200 meter list with her career best 24.50 seconds victory, which was 1/100 of a second off Tahesia Harrigan’s Jr. National Record. She became only the third BVI athlete to break 25 seconds in the event.

Team leader Ileta Potter said while the team was smaller than originally planned and wasn’t as strong, they performed well overall. “They out did our expectations in many areas,” Potter said. “I guess if we had a full team—which was also limited by injuries—we could have been able to come first.”

Potter said that Antigua collected most of their points in the distance races from 800 to 3000 events, areas in which the BVI did not field participants. “That is where they overshadowed us,” Potter stated. “But, in the other events, we up to par or better in those.”

In order to be competitive in regional competition, Potter said athletes must be first identified and need encouragement to nurture them. “From what I see, most children don’t want to run distances,” Potter observed. “We have to get it instilled in some of our children that in order for us to become successful, we must be able to contest all events in a meet—that includes the distances. If we get the distances down, I know we will do very well.”

During the recent Youth version of the meet held in Anguilla, most of the points from the competition came from the girls. Potter stated the boys at the junior level pulled their weight. “We thought they were not strong, but, they really had a good showing,” she noted. “The Under 17 boys did very well. While we did not have a full Under 20 boy’s team, those who competed, they competed very well. We said the girls were strong, but, the boys were just as strong.”

BVI Leeward Islands results:

100 Meters U-17 Female: 3. Shanice Hazel BVI, 12.77. 5. Ashley Kelly, BVI 12.94. Male: 2. Michael Butler, BVI 11.51. 4. Ramo Pemberton, BVI 11.73.

U-20 Female:1. Jackhel King, BVI 12.58. Male:4 Keone Maduro, BVI 11.31.

200 Meters U-17 Female: 2. Britney Wattley, BVI 26.27. 4. Shanice Hazel, BVI 27.21. Male:3. Michael Butler, BVI 22.95. 4. Akeel Burrows, BVI 23.23. U-20 Female: 1. Jackhel King, BVI 24.50. Male: 4.Trent Harrigan, BVI 22.97.

400 Meters U-17 Female: 2. Chantel Malone, BVI 59.64. Male: 4. Akeel Burrows. BVI 52.54. U-20 Male: 2. Trent Harrigan, BVI 49.74. 5. Ackim Lewis, BVI 54.08.

800 Meters U-17 Female: 2. Bianca Dougan, BVI 2:30.6. 3. Khanishque Todman, BVI 2:32.2.

Discus U-17 Male: 4. Akeel Burrows, BVI 23.60 (77’5¼”). 5. Russell Boney, BVI 21.58 (70’9¾”). U-20 Male: 1. Kyle Francis, BVI 41.62. (136’6”) 2. Jordon Luke, BVI 39.38 (129’2”).

High Jump: U-17 Female: 1. Chantel Malone, BVI 1.58 (5’2¼”). 4. Shanice Hazel, BVI 1.42 (4’8”). Male: 2. Akeel Burrows, BVI 1.65 (5’5”). 3. Akimo Williams, BVI 1.52 (4’11¾”). U-20 Female: 2. Saungie Liburd, BVI 1.42 (4’8”). Male:1. Kimon Lewis, BVI 1.89 (6’2¼”). 2. McKenzie Baltimore, BVI 1.83 (6’0”).

Javelin U-17 Male:2. Akeel Burrows, BVI 34.30 (112’6”) U-20 Female: 3. Saungie Liburd, BVI 23.58 (77’4½”). Male: 1. Omar Jones BVI 49.22 (161’6”). 2. Andrew Thomas, BVI 46.60 (152’11”)

Long Jump U-17 Female: 1. Chantel Malone, BVI 5.30 (17’4½”). 2. Shanice Hazel, BVI 4.93 (16’2”). Male:3. Akeel Burrows BVI 5.83 (19’1½”). 4. Michael Butler BVI 5.80 (19’0½”). U-20 Female: 4 Saungie Liburd, BVI 3.91 (12’10”). Male: 2.Trent Harrigan BVI 6.42 (21’0¾”).3. McKenzie Baltimore, BVI 6.31 (20’8”).

Shot Put U-17 Female: 3. Ashley Kelly BVI 8.18 (26’10”). 6. Khanishque Todman BVI 6.76 (22’2¼”). Male: 6 Russell Boney BVI 8.78 (28’9¾”). U-20 Male: 1. Jordon Luke BVI 13.69 (44’11”). 2. Kyle Francis BVI 12.75 (41’10”).

Triple Jump Open Female: 1. Chantel Malone, BVI 11.23 (36’10¼”). 2. Saungie Liburd, BVI 10.09 (33’1¼”). Male: 1. Omar Jones, BVI 12.55 (41’2¼”). 3. McKenzie Baltimore, BVI 12.39 (40’7¾”).

4x100 Relay U-17 Female: 2. BVI 50.28. Male: 2. BVI 46.17. U-20 Male: 2. BVI 44.93. 4x400m Open Male: 2. BVI 3:26.2.