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Haiti Unbeaten, St. Lucia Gets First D-Cup Win
(9 March 2001) - The host nation, Haiti remained unbeaten on the fourth day of Davis Cup Group IV action Thursday in Port au Prince, beating the US Virgin Islands 2-1. Nicholas Bass overcame Haiti's Joel Allen in a tight match, 4-2, 4-5, 1-4, 4-2, 4-0. Haitian number one Ronald Agenor kept rolling with a straight sets (4-0, 4-1, 4-0) win over John Richards. Agenor and Ifton Louis combined to win the doubles 4-0, 4-2, 5-4.
St. Lucia earned their first victory in Group IV, defeating Barbados 2-1. In singles, 20-year-old Sirsean Arlain dropped the opening set against Barbados number two Akil Burgess 5-4, before storming back to win 4-2, 4-1, 4-2. Kane Easter, St. Lucia's number one player, defeated Barbados number one James Betts in a five-setter, 4-0, 2-4, 1-4, 5-3, 4-1. Gary Eugene and David D'Auvergne conceded the doubles to Betts and Burgess 5-4, 4-2, 4-0.
OECS beat Antigua 2-1 Thursday, native-born St. Lucian Glynne James winning 4-2, 1-4, 2-4, 4-1, 4-1 over Kevin Gardner to set the tone for OECS, and Kristen Cable continuing with a 4-5, 5-4, 4-1, 4-0 victory over. Carlton Bedminster. OECS dropped the doubles 3-5, 5-3, 4-5, 5-4, 4-2.
On Wednesday USVI had beaten OECS 2-1, Haiti trounced Barbados 3-0, the same scoreline by which Panama beat Antigua.
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CRICKET - Lancashire Women's Tour To The Caribbean
April 2001
2 Arrive in Trinidad
4 Lancashire v Trinidad & Tobago
5 Lancashire v West Indies
7 Lancashire v West Indies
8 Lancashire v West Indies
10 Arrive in St. Lucia
11 Lancashire v St. Lucia (Micoud Playing Field)
14 Lancashire v West Indies (Mindoo Philip Park)
15 Lancashire v West Indies (Mindoo Philip Park)
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Record Joseph Jump
(7 March 2001) - There's no long jump in national track and field meets. Something about people stealing the sand from the pits. A number of schools have competition in long jump and triple jump, however. Maybe the AAA should use a school's facilities.
If they used the pit at St. Mary's College, 16-year-old Travis Joseph would have an unfair advantage, and he doesn't seem to need it. Men's high jump champion at Independence Games, where he competed for Morne Stars, Travis prefers leaping more or less horizontally.
In intramural competition Thursday, competing for Rodney House, Travis cleared 14.65m for the triple jump. In so doing, he easily won gold, but he also trumped a decades-old school record. In 1981, Franklin Collymore had leapt 14.14m, a mark unequalled by any Samarian since. In fact, assuming the AAA ratifies the distance, Travis will become a national junior record-holder, as he eclipsed the 14.49m cleared by Dane Magloire in 1994.
Be that as it may, Travis was also a gold medallist for the long jump, where he cleared 6.55m to equal the school mark established by Richard Harris in 1989. Ian Emmanuel set the national mark (7.08m) in 1994.
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Second Loss For St. Lucia In D-Cup Tennis
(6 March 2001) - The second day of Davis Cup American Zone Group IV proved to be just about as fruitless as the opening day for St. Lucia, falling 2-1 to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. What would have made it worse this time, though, was the identity of the opponents.
Glynne James, a St. Lucian living in Grenada for several years, was declared the number one player for OECS earlier this year. In Port au Prince, Haiti, he met 20-year-old compatriot Sirsean Arlain and defeated 'Sean 5-4,4-1,4-1. It was an inauspicious and ominous start for St. Lucia.
Nobody is more familiar with OECS than St. Lucia – five years ago, St. Lucia broke away from the nine-member group, to play as an individual entity in Davis Cup. Kristen Cable is well known to the St. Lucian team. Seems he's just as familiar with the St. Lucian team, though, defeating Kane Easter 0-4,4-2,5-4,4-1. Arlain and Gary Eugene won the doubles 4-2,4-1,5-4.
Also on the second day of group play in Haiti, Panama defeated the US Virgin Islands 3-0.
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SMC Up And Down In School Volleyball
(6 March 2001) - Leon Hess Comprehensive and St. Mary's College have come out well in secondary schools' under-sixteen and under-nineteen boys' volleyball, respectively. SMC's U19 boys got a good win Tuesday over Sir Ira Simmons Secondary. Though SISSS played hard, superior hitting and defense from the Samarians eventually saw them through, 25-18, 21-25, 25-15, 25-18.
The oldest secondary school in St. Lucia did not fare so well at junior level. LHCSS' junior boys came out a bit nervous in their season opener, against Vide Boutielle. They made up for it Tuesday, demolishing SMC's juniors in a straight-set laugher, winning at 13, 8 and 5!
Sir Ira Simmons Secondary fielded a girls' team that read like a who's who of St. Lucian junior sports. School track champions Indira Laurencin and Shaina Reynold, both of who are also national netballers, teamed up with the FA's most improved female footballer of the year 2000, Jamilla Henry, on a squad that took St. Joseph's Convent to five sets and eventually beat SJC. The orange of SISSS prevailed 14-25, 25-16, 16-25, 25-21, 15-4.
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Auguste repeats as MIAA MVP
Reproduced with permission from the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal
When he arrived at Washburn three years ago as a talented but unpolished basketball player from St. Lucia, Ewan Auguste had definite goals. "When I came in as a freshman, I told coach (Bob Chipman) that I was going to be league MVP by my junior year and an All-American by my junior year," Auguste said.
He was right, and he hasn't backed off this year as a senior. Auguste, the Ichabods' 6-foot-8 centre, was named Most Valuable Player in the MIAA for the second year in a row on Monday in voting by the conference coaches.
"I went to coach's office before this season and I told him that I had done all of the individual things," Auguste said. "That was taken care of. I told him I didn't need any of that again, I just need to win."
He got both. Averaging 15.2 points and 7.2 rebounds, Auguste directed the No. 5 Ichabods to a 25-4 record, the MIAA championship and the No. 1 seed in the South Central Regional that begins Thursday at Lee Arena. He led the conference with a .640 field goal percentage.
"We go as Ewan goes," Chipman said. "When Ewan stepped it up, our team stepped it up. Ewan has attracted more double-teams than anyone in the history of this conference. That should tell you he's the MVP. I don't see anybody else getting doubled and tripled like he does."
Auguste was the only unanimous choice as a repeat All-MIAA selection. The former St. Mary's College (St. Lucia) centre is the first two-time MVP since Washburn's Dan Buie in 1996-97.
"It was tough to match last year, but I didn't feel any pressure to put up the same numbers," Auguste said. "I just needed to go out and work hard. When you are one of the better players on the team, you want to do the right things every day in practice and give your teammates encouragement. If you do the right things, they will, too."
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Lancs Stepping Stone For Windies Women
 (4 March 2001) - Players from the host territory dominated the West Indies women's cricket trials at Gros Islet playing field, St. Lucia this weekend. Nearly thirty cricketers from St. Lucia, Grenada and Dominica completed two matches on Saturday and Sunday; similar trials were held recently in Trinidad and Tobago and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
West Indies, excluded from the recent Women's World Cup and sorely lacking in experience, will play host to the Lancashire women's team in April. The English county team will play a short series against the full West Indies side, hosted by Trinidad and Tobago and by St. Lucia. Ann Browne-John, the Windies assistant coach/manager, says: "Lancashire is a stepping stone for the West Indies team. We're well aware that England are perhaps a bit too strong for us right now, but Lancashire will give us a good run."
The West Indies Women's Cricket Federation has changed the way it goes about preparing the regional team, from less than a decade ago when West Indies was represented at World Cups in England (1993) and India (1996). According to Liz Williams, vice-president of WIWCF, "We used to just name a team and coach weeks before the competition but we realized that, even if we don't necessarily have the funds, we can do better."
Last year, St. Lucia's Verina Felicien was named West Indies captain. Saturday, herself and St. Lucian teammate Eugena Gregg (photo) led the teams at Gros Islet. Felicien's XI, batting first, made 192 all out in 42 overs. The skipper scored 47, St. Lucian opener Nadine George hit 42. Yet another St. Lucian, Lorina Vite bagged two for 12. Gregg's team replied with 137. Dominica's Sharon Gregoire top scored with 37, St. Lucian Roslyn Emmanuel hit 35 and another St. Lucian, Phillipa Thomas chipped in with 20.
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Rough Start For St. Lucia, OECS
(5 March 2001) - The 2001 Davis Cup campaign began for St. Lucia, the US Virgin Islands and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Monday, with American Zone Group IV in Port au Prince, Haiti.
The two top teams in this zone are the host nation and Panama, opponents respectively for St. Lucia and OECS on the first day of play. Kane Easter, the 24-year-old St. Mary's College and University of Louisville graduate (fell in straight sets to Haiti's Ifton Louis, 4-1, 4-1, 4-2. David D'Auvergne was sacrificed to Haitian number one Ronald Agenor, a world-ranked player who didn't drop so much as a game against the St. Lucian veteran. Haiti completed the sweep in the doubles fixture, with Easter and fellow Samarian Sirsean Arlain (Averett College) falling 4-2, 4-2, 5-3 to Agenor and Louis.
Glynne James, a St. Lucian now playing for OECS (he lives in Grenada) lost 4-0, 4-0, 4-0 to Panama's Chad Valdes. OECS number two Kristen Cable fell to Arnulfo Courtney 4-1, 4-0, 4-0. The OECS doubles team was beaten 4-1, 4-2,5-3 by the Silva brothers from Panama.
The only match really expected to produce close tennis was Barbados and USVI. Barbados won 2-1, with two seed Damien Applewaite dropping a five-setter to Virgin Islander John Richards 4-1, 2-4, 5-3, 2-4, 4-0. One seed James Betts restored normalcy by beating Luis Taylor 4-1,4-1,4-1. Newton and Bass for USVI lost to Betts and Date 4-1, 4-2, 5-3.
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National Basketball…Finally
(4 March 2001) - Maze Sniperz defeated Shernell's Green Lake 66-62 as the opening game of this year's All-Island Club Basketball Tournament (Southern Zone) finally was played in Vieux Fort.
The key to this game was rebounding. Maze Sniperz collected 33 rebounds compared to just 15 for Green Lake. Yohan Severin dominated the backboards for Sniperz, grabbing 13 rebounds to go with his thirteen points.
Down by eight points in the second half with three minutes left in regulation, Green Lake dragged it back to 63-62 with 1:09 remaining. Sham Hunte scored a tip on a missed free throw and swished his second foul shot to win the game. He ended with 15 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals.
For Green Lake, Shervon Edward tallied 23 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals. Remy Nutts Avril Jr. had 15 points, 6 rebounds.
The All-Island Tournament had been in the planning stages since September last year. The national association has said that registration in Castries and Gros Islet will continue until some time in April, when that Zone will begin play. They're also hoping to bring in the East and West coasts.
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National Stadium - A National Headache?
(4 March 2001) - The estimated $45 million National Stadium project at St. Urbain in Vieux Fort won't be completed 'til the middle of 2002. Sports Minister Honourable Mario Michel confirmed recently that construction had been delayed four to five months (see "Stadium Stoppage," 24 December 2000). This, he said, was due to difficulties being encountered with a soil test report done by Strata Engineering Consultants Ltd.
The Chinese National Overseas Engineering Corporation (COVEC) is building the 15,000-seat facility on behalf of the People's Republic of China. According to Michel, piling operations had begun when the conditions being encountered appeared to be different from what had been projected by the soil test. The St. Lucian firm has since issued a release asserting that it' s findings were good, and that Government misused the report.
Someone's not telling the whole truth, but the implications are there regardless. A team of geological experts from China told Government they'd have to make changes in the foundation design to suit the actual soil conditions. This, on top of the initial stoppage, means a delay of a few months. This, with Mindoo Philip Park and other facilities succumbing to mismanagement, which I suppose we'll hope to avoid with our new facility.
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Gros Islet Reaps Youth Football Success
(4 March 2001) - For the first time in nearly two decades, Gros Islet have lifted youth football hardware in St. Lucia, after winning the 2000 Cable & Wireless Under-Twenty Championships over Vieux Fort at Marchand Grounds. Teams from St. Lucia's northernmost district had made several unsuccessful trips to Marchand over the past few years. Only a few months ago, Northern United lost the Heineken FA Cup after a 3-2 golden goal heartbreaker against Rovers United. Today, the Gros Islet crew - including singers Vivian Simon and Jennifer Gaston - wore shirts bearing the slogan "Is We Time." If the game had been a beauty contest, it would perhaps have gone Vieux Fort 's way, as they played quick, powerful, attractive football. For Gros Islet, though, it was indeed their time, with nine minutes remaining in the first period. Lennon Polius converted a penalty that gave the northerners renewed vim and vigour. Under orders from coach Alban Felicien, Gros Islet defended with eight and nine men behind the ball, negating Vieux Fort's creative abilities.
Most of the second half was played in Gros Islet's half, as Vieux Fort all but owned the midfield. One of Gros Islet's isolated forays, however, produced the goods seven minutes from time, as Zakeus Jones scored between two defenders and iced the cake for the ecstatic Gros Islet fans. Rovers United had earlier in the afternoon scored a 2-1 victory over two-time defending Premier League champions Roots Alley Ballers, making it a sort of double defeat for Vieux Fort.
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Francique Speaking
 (1 March 2001) - The Caribbean has a solid tradition of sprinters and quarter-milers, but how many ever hail from the Eastern Caribbean? Well, Kim Collins of St. Kitts made a name for himself at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Now, it may be the turn of Grenada's Alleyne Francique (photo). A 25-year-old junior at Louisiana State University (following a transfer from Essex County Community College, NJ) Alleyne was junior college national champion over his favourite distance last year. Now he's a big quarter-mile threat for LSU's Tigers in the Southeastern Conference. Before the SEC championships last weekend in Kentucky, the tall Grenadian's best run had been 46.46s, decent enough, all told. At SEC, Alleyne ran 46.61 to finish third in his heat. Come the finals, he was second in a very fast race, his time (45.73) among the top ten in the world for the year. Along with the SEC champion, Avard Moncur of Auburn, Alleyne reset the SEC indoor record (45.78, 1990) and the course record (45.75, 1996) for Nutter Fieldhouse.
Alleyne's teammate, Lueroy Colquhoun, was third. Along with freshmen Robert Parham and Pedro Tunon, they won the men's 4x400m relay in 3:06.73, easily qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
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Not Quite A Perfect Ending
(2 March 2001) - St. Lucian senior centre Ewan Auguste has had his troubles from the free throw line this season, hitting fewer than half his shots from the charity stripe. Against Northwest Missouri State for the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association basketball title, Ewan went to the foul line eight times, and hit all eight free throws.
Ewan's Washburn University Ichabods, ranked 7th in Division II, beat Northwest 81-74 in front of a 3,950-strong home crowd. Ewan, 6'8" 230 lbs, converted seven of ten shots from the field, ending with 22 points. Uncharacteristically, he had but a single rebound, but the win was the thing. At the interval, Ewan had only two points. WU coach Bob Chipman said "The start of the second half was incredible. We locked them up defensively and made great plays offensively. We took the game right there."
Friday's game wasn't the end of the season by any means for Ewan and WU. The South Central Regional Tournament is on this week, with the Ichabods the likely top seed. Again, they'll be looking to Ewan. He led Washburn in scoring (15.0) and rebounding (7.4) this season. He's 9th leading scorer in the MIAA, 5th leading rebounder and tops in field goal percentage (166-261, 63.6%) with a late-season surge bolstering his chances of repeating as the conference's Most Valuable Player. "We go as Ewan goes," Chipman says. "We've done that for the last two years. He's turned it up here lately. When he really goes, we're really special and we all feed off him."
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