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A quick look at what's happening in sports this week … SATURDAY Grenada National Championships, St. George's … OECS Under-23 Netball, St. George's … Piton Beer Inter-District Cricket Semifinal, Central Castries at Mon Repos … St. Lucia Ten a Side Rugby, Morne playing field … SUNDAY Cable & Wireless Tennis, St. Lucia Racquet Club … THURSDAY Eastern Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships, St. Croix |
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Johnson Wins Again, But Hampered By Poor Weather
(27 June 2000) - Dominic Johnson competed Monday at the Elite Games in Kuortaine, Finland, winning the pole vault with a surprisingly modest effort. In his third European meet since early this month, Johnson cleared 5.35m (17'6") for gold, ahead of his former Arizona teammate Jussi Autio of Finland. Johnson's relatively low winning height may have had something to do with the cool weather, and he remains confident that he will be able to jump his personal best this year.
The 25-year-old St. Lucian Sportsman of the Year goes at it again Saturday, again in Finland, and he's hoping that better weather will help him get back to his top form. His immediate aim is to clear 5.65m to match his personal record and then to surpass that mark. He's jumping consistently at very good heights, but achieving a new high water mark would set Dominic firmly among the very best in the world. He is due to compete at five more European meets before returning to Arizona in late July to complete his Olympic preparations. Dominic has qualified automatically to contest his event at the Sydney Olympics in September.
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Promesse (Figuratively) Anchors Olympic Bid
(28 June 2000) - This weekend, St. Lucia's Amateur Athletics Association makes a second bid to qualify a sprint relay team for the Olympics. They'll contest Grenada's National Championships at that territory's recently completed National Stadium, and they've made a single but significant change from the team which ran at the Frankie Colon Memorial two weeks ago in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Olympic-bound Ronald Promesse, a soon-to-be graduate of the University of Texas (el Paso) returned home this week to once again be part of the 4x1 team. The national record holder in the individual short sprints, Ronald was on the team that failed to get the necessary qualifying time of 40 seconds flat in Ponce. He's one of the two most experienced men on the team, with Edmund Estephane.
Dennery's 100m national champion has been unbeatable on local soil for nearly half a decade. Himself and junior Sportsman of the Year Damian Henville were both in Ponce, and they each have plenty to prove. Henville's name is on the national record books in this event already, and he'll surely want it to stay there for a while yet.
Absent from the team is Nathan Justin, national junior sprint champion at three distances and front-runner for junior Sportsman of the Year honours. He's replaced by Anselm Felix, who most recently attended the University of Iowa after transferring from a two-year school. Felix adds even more experience and, hopefully, greater speed to the team. In the absence of Dominic Johnson this is perhaps the best team St. Lucia can field, though some might prefer Justin over Henville.
Speaking on the addition of Felix, Promesse says "it's a much better team now…not to put anyone else down, but I think with Anselm on board, we stand of good chance of getting the qualifying time." Coach Gregory Lubin expresses similar confidence, but both are aware that they'll have but a single bite at the cherry. The team runs the invitational relay Saturday evening and they know this may be their best chance to get the necessary time. Promesse has said that as of mid-July he's probably off to Europe to fine-tune his race for Sydney.
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Eugene Is Smashing Again In Piton Cricket
(26 June 2000) - When you've played for the West Indies "A" team…when you've been captain of the West Indies reserves, you've set a pretty high bar for yourself. In recent years, John Eugene - thirty-year-old Gros Islet, St. Lucia and Windward Islands middle order batsman - hadn't been playing as though he once knocked on the door of the regional side. This year, though, he appears to be out to prove a point.
Sunday, himself and his Gros Islet teammates knocked Dennery out of the 2000 Piton Beer tournament in grand style, batting and bowling so well in their semifinal encounter that they forced a concession from the east coast side. Initially, Kent Crafton led the way for Gros islet, taking four wickets at the cost of twenty-one runs, as Dennery were dismissed for 125 runs, but that was merely a table setter for Eugene, who would proceed to outscore Dennery on his own.
An unbeaten knock of 136 from the Gros Islet total of 375 for five carried Eugene to an aggregate on the season of nearly six hundred runs (596, to be precise) and a tournament-leading average of 102 runs per innings. He's far and away the best batsman in the domestic game this season, in such scary form that he's almost a lock to play for St. Lucia in the Windwards' competition later this year.
In any event, on the second day of their semifinal, a number of Dennery players begged off. Unable to field a full complement against the defending champs, Dennery conceded.
In the other semifinal, Mon Repos made 311 at Micoud against former champions Central Castries, who were 153 for four at the close on the first day. For Mon Repos, Cyrille Charles made 73, Lebert Serieux 62 and Marcian Peter 44. In the Castries reply, Paul Remice was out for 59, and Esnard James for 47. Peter had taken 3 wickets for just nine runs. On Sunday, though, the umpires declared that no play was possible, and the match was abandoned.
The game is to be replayed this weekend in Micoud.
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Buoyant St. Lucia Leaves for OECS Netball
(29 June 2000) - Coach Liota Charlemagne has been associated with the St. Lucia Under-23 netball team for several years, and when she says that the 2000 edition is as good as they get, you better believe her. The coach and her girls left Thursday for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States tournament in Grenada, beginning at the weekend.
St. Lucia was second in this tournament last year, with Shem Maxwell and Michelle Rogers leading the way. Rogers will no longer anchor the centre court, but Maxwell and fellow senior national player Helina St. Marie are back in the attack, causing Charlemagne to cite shooting as her team's greatest asset.
Another valuable asset is the versatility of this side, with junior netballer of the year Sarah Alexander of Mon Repos and Shana Reynolds from the Shamrock Netball Club capable of defending on the ball or in the circle. There are girls here who can push the ball on the wing and then defend astutely, or make a key steal and an equally skilful pass.
The key question, of course, is whether all of that ability will allow St. Lucia to get past defending champions St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The fixture on Saturday evening will be relished by spectators and by both teams, whose rivalry depends on the St. Lucians coming every time with their very best. Once again, the full St. Lucia team reads as follows:
Shooters - Shem Maxwell, Helena St. Marie, Yolanda Mathurin
Centre court - Maura Quinlan, Betty Isidore, Jany Williams
Defense - Tessa Paul, Sarah Alexander, Nyasha Savory, Shana Reynolds
Reserves - Natalie Stanislaus, Natasha Charles
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Chester Forde Takes Michel's Road Race
(25 June 2000) - Chester Forde won a 36-mile road race Sunday in a time of 1:39:05 over Sammy Joseph, second by less than half a minute, and Wayne Joseph, a further seven minutes behind. Five riders - the others being Alban Williams and seventeen-year-old schoolboy Claude Chase -completed the course, from nine starters. The road race was sponsored by Michel's Customs Brokerage.
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Roots, Knights, Dragons Win
(25 June 2000) - South Coast Basketball began at the weekend with three matches. Roots Alley Ballers beat Square United 47-39 in the opening game, Anthony Joseph scoring ten points and securing 21 rebounds.
Knights picked off Maze Snipers 58-36 and Dragons burned Green Lake in other, more lop-sided weekend encounters.
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