ANTHONIO MASCOLL brought the house down with an amazing run in the men’s final of the 400 metres late Saturday night, the first day of the 2011 Louis Lynch Athletic Championships at the National Stadium.
Mascoll produced a jaw-dropping 47.16 seconds performance in the one-lap event, finding a different gear over the second 200m to blow the race wide open.
In the process, he dragged along Foundation’s Shaquille Alleyne (47.88), his Pacers teammate Nicholas Deshong (47.89), and Under-17 athlete Jerrad Mason (48.22).
Coach Anthony “Palance” Williams was very pleased and quietly confident that the best was yet to come from both Mascoll and Deshong.
“It’s great. My key thing is [for them] to stay fit. At this time of the year, I can’t ask for anything more. We still have a lot to offer.
“I told the fellows to try to qualify early and take the weight off their legs. If you qualify early, you have more time to work on your weaknesses,” he said.
Mascoll and Mason both reached the CARIFTA “A” qualifying standard in their respective age groups for the second time that day, and Mascoll also qualified for the Pan Am Juniors.
With Foundation’s Nikolai Gall placing fifth in 48.42, the result also sets the tone for one of Barbados’ best 4×400 metres quartets in years – on the night the Amateur Athletic Association held a minute’s silence in memory of former Young Lion Ronald “Concorde” Thorne who passed away recently.
Althea Maximilien of Freedom Striders won the women’s race in 56.25 seconds.
Six athletes met the qualifying standard for CARIFTA, but Tyrell Forde of Rising Stars was the only other “A” qualifier, in the men’s 110m hurdles.
He lined up in a quality field which included Daley Carter of Quantum Leap, Pacers’ Raheem Durant and his Rising Stars’ teammates Raphael Jordan, Tramaine Maloney and Rhys Phillips.
Jordan had the best start, but Forde showed better speed between the hurdles and pulled away over the last five barriers to win in 14.06 seconds. Carter was second in a “B” time of 14.37 seconds, while Maloney (14.59) fell to third after failing to run through the line.
Kenrisha Brathwaite of Rising Stars easily won the Under-20 Girls’ 100m hurdles in 14.36 seconds, also a “B” time. Freedom Striders’ Celina Forte did well to recover and finish the race after stumbling over the third barrier.
CARIFTA bronze medallist Shakera Hall of Elite Distance missed the 14.80 “B” time by the narrowest margin, winning the Under-17 Girls’ 100m hurdles in 14.81. Jalisa Burrowes BC Trac was second in 15.54.
Rising Stars’ Dario Scantlebury was also shy of the Under-17 Boys’ 100m hurdles “B” mark of 14.80, winning in 14.86 from Pacers’ Akeem David (15.07) who has improved quite a bit this season.
The final “B” qualifier was Erica Charles of Freedom Striders in the Under-17 Girls’ 400 metres in 57.75 seconds.
Quantum Leap’s Akela Taylor (58.28) seemed to have it covered over the second part of the race, but Charles had the stronger finish over the last 20 metres to get the victory.
In the 1 500 metres, Freedom Striders’ Cindy Forde (4 mins, 57.34 secs), Ibrahim Hinds (4:06.77) and Pius Emilien (4:25.49) dominated their races, but all came up short.
In the 100 metres, Shekeim Greaves made his debut to win the men’s 100 metres in 10.69 seconds, and Tameka Rawlins of Foundation Track and Field Academy took the women’s race in 12. 04.
Other 100m winners were Burrowes (12.97), Tamal Atwell of Blitz (11.48), Rising Stars’ Tristan Evelyn (12.25), and Pacers’ Joshua Walcott (11.12) who also won the 400m (50.09) from Mario Burke of the High Performance Programme.
In the field, Holly-Ann Hunte of St Michael and Parkinson’s Shavonte Bradshaw won the Under-17 and Under-20 Girls’ javelin with throws of 30.87m and 34.53m, respectively.
