|
AAA Trots Out Cartagena CAC Cross-Country Preparations
(11 January, 2000) - Rain, mud and cows were the order of the day as the St. Lucia Amateur Athletics Association got its calendar of activities underway for 2000. The event was an eight kilometre cross-country run, in preparation for the Central American and Caribbean Cross-Country Championship, 4-6 February in Cartagena, Colombia. Sunday's run was the first of three planned by the AAA, and there were no real surprises.
Labouring beneath dark grey skies, fourteen runners were led to the finish line by Wayne St. Ange, who completed the course in a little over thirty-four minutes. Behind St. Ange were John Gaston, Michael Cosmay and Stephen Asson. Veteran runner Victor Ledgers, a member of the team that represented St. Lucia last year when the St. Lucia Golf and Country Club hosted the CAC Championship, did not participate in this first trial run.
The first woman across the finish line on Sunday was Candia Esnard, who competed in a number of events in the United States during 1999. Candia ended in forty-seven minutes; Juliana Actie and Priscilla Emmanuel trailed her for second and third. AAA president Alfred Emmanuel expressed his satisfaction with the number of athletes who turned out, adding that an announcement as to the composition of the team was imminent.
In 1999, Zepherinus Joseph had the best finish (fifth) ever for a St. Lucian at the CAC Championship - Joseph is currently on an athletics scholarship in the United States, at Central Arizona Junior College. At last December's National Junior College Athletics Association Cross-Country Championship, he took second place, finishing less than a second behind the winner. Joseph has said that he would like to compete in Cartagena.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
Pugilists Pick New Executive this Weekend
(11 January, 2000) - The St. Lucia Amateur Boxing Association will stage its Annual General Meeting Saturday 15 at Olympic house in Barnard Hill, with the main order of business being the election of officers for the period 2000-2002.
A little bird tells me that current SLABA Secretary Theresa Alcee is giving serious thought to making a run for the presidency. It could be the first time in St. Lucia that a woman has led a sports body not specifically for women.
What a woman, though. Theresa was very involved in getting SLABA ready to host last year's Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Boxing Championships, and she's been vital to whatever success the organisation has enjoyed.
Alcee says that over the course of the next twelve months the Association should be able to put in place various training programmes for coaches, administrators and of course, boxers. Such programmes are sorely missed at present.
Also on Saturday, SLABA will discuss the Caribbean Championships, 9-13 February, in Jamaica. Darius Cetoute and Antonio Laurencin will represent St. Lucia at that competition. No date has been decided for the 2000 OECS Championships.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
Hats Off to Lenny Yarde and Veterans Rugby
(10 January, 2000) - The St. Lucia Rugby Football Union, already with a team in training for Sevens World Cup Qualifying (Caribbean Region) in Trinidad and Tobago 20-24 January, held its first activity for the year Sunday. Having had a successful pre-National Day Challenge match, pitting Veterans against Juniors, the RFU decided to do it again.Led by Lyndel Norville, the Veterans had taken the first match between the two by fourteen points. This time it was Lenny Yarde on target in a best-of-three series. The Juniors were looking dangerous early in Game 1, Jerry Charles running in twice and Akim Herbert converting once to help his side to a 12-nil advantage; they would never lead again.Yarde came out hot in the second half, with two tries, one of which Norville converted, adding a try of his own. Henson Hunte equalised for Juniors, and Charles had the game won, but his support failed him just shy of the line. Garfield Jules and I stopped him, and after some lovely passing up the wing, Yarde scored his third and the final try of the game.
The Juniors must have rued their missed opportunity, because it was all Veterans in Game 2. Jules, Yarde, Emmanuel Bastien and yours truly all scored to make the score 22-nil just before the half. Charles and Herbert scored within two minutes to make things look respectable going into the half, but there was just one conversion for each side.
Yarde scored again to begin the second half, followed by Jules. Kent St. Catherine scored, and it began to look like a joke. Jules crossed the line again for a hat-trick, converting his own score. Norville had the ninth Veterans try of the game, and Yarde capped it off with his second hat-trick of the day. Final score 58-12 in favor of the Veterans.
(terry finisterre)
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
Auguste and the Ichabods Fifty-Fifty in the New Millennium
(8 January, 2000) - Their star forward has been putting in some serious work after the Christmas break (must have gotten some green fig from home) but Ewan Auguste and the Washburn University Ichabods basketball team began the third millennium with a .500 record. In both games, the former St. Mary's College standout led his team in scoring and rebounding. In the losing effort he even led in assists! Tuesday evening the Ichabods were on the road. Ewan dominated inside, but Washburn failed to defend the three-point arc, losing 78-73 to Truman State. Ewan converted on 8 of his 14 field goal attempts for sixteen points. He pulled down nine boards, four at the offensive end, and for good measure he added six dimes. No surprise that he leads Washburn in at least categories, including scoring.His scoring was needed again Wednesday as they returned to Lee Arena in Topeka, KS for a match-up with 25th ranked Missouri Southern, who went into the game unbeaten on the season. Another fifteen points from Ewan (5-10 from the field, 5-7 from the line) along with another nine boards and a block, set the pace for a 74-63 victory. The Ichabods have won eight of their ten games for 1999-2000.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
CAC Heroes Named Track and Field Athletes of the Year
(7 January, 2000) - Last June St. Lucia placed fifth overall from twenty three competing nations at the XVII Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Championships in Bridgetown, Barbados. The heroes of the eleven-member St. Lucia team were gold medalists Dominic Johnson and Verneta Lesforis. Today, the Amateur Athletics Association named those two as the most outstanding track and field athletes of the year.
Verneta, a senior at Southwest Missouri State University, won the women's 400m dash in a photo finish on the opening night of CAC competition. Her time of 52.21 bested her previous national record of 53.54, which she ran in 1997. Verneta also took bronze as a member of the 4x100m relay team, which set a new national record of 46.78 in that event. A month later she represented St. Lucia at the Pan-American Games in Winnipeg, Canada.
Dominic's achievements in 1999 were even more impressive. The twenty-five year old Arizona-based pole vaulter cleared 5.61m (18'4") at CAC, breaking the meet record and taking the title of "most outstanding male athlete." Minutes before winning his pole vault gold, Dominic ran on the 4x100m men's relay team which ran 41.01s to break the national record. Dominic was also in Winnipeg and at the World Championships in Seville, Spain.
Verneta's and Dominic's gold medals were the first ever for St. Lucia at the CAC Games – in fact, no other St. Lucian athlete had ever placed in a CAC final before last June. 1999 was a good year for St. Lucian track and field. Damian Henville joined Dominic, Emile John and Ronald Promesse in Winnipeg to once again reset the 4x100m men's record. He was named junior male athlete of the year. CARIFTA Games representative Laverne Spencer broke the national high junp record at Inter-Secondary School sports last year, earning her the AAA seal of approval as outstanding junior female.
ñ BACK TO TOP OF PAGE ..
|
