SPORTS SECTION E
NBA, Page 6
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2023
FIVE-PEAT
CARIFTA TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES Bahamas CARIFTA swimming champions IN MEDAL COLUMN By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
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ission accomplished. The Bahamas’ 36-member team to the CARIFTA Swim Championships in Curacao returned home with their fifth consecutive championship title and a pair of recordbreaking performances from two of the four co-team captains Rhanishka Gibbs and Nigel Forbes. In producing its best ever performance, Team Bahamas collected a total of 85 medals and accumulated 1,113 points to literally dominate the four days of competition as they celebrated and look forward to a six-peat when the championships is staged in the Bahamas at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex in 2024. In their 85 medal package, Team Bahamas unwrapped 37 gold, 27 silver and 21 bronze, 32 more than their nearest rivals, Cayman Islands,
FIVE STRAIGHT - The Bahamas’ 36-member team returned home with their fifth consecutive championship title after winning the CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Curacao. who got second with 25 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze for their total of 54, while Trinidad & Tobago
rounded out the top three with 22 gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze for their total of 54. With their 1,113 points,
Team Bahamas out-distanced the Cayman Islands by 361 points as they trailed with 752. Trinidad
& Tobago completed the top three with 534.
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gold and bronze in the same race. Cayden Smith, gold medallist in the under 17 200m finals, came out with the win after running a time of 21.70. He was joined by fellow teammate Andrew Brown who picked up bronze after a third place finish of 22.03. The duo talked about how it felt to add gold and bronze to the Bahamas’ medal count. Smith said it felt amazing to win a gold medal for his country. He said his strategy was to hit the curve hard and once he got on the straight away, he felt good so he just took off to secure the win. Bronze medallist Brown said it felt good to get the win and wasn’t sure about it because his legs started to lose power towards the end of the race, but he used
Silver medallists Javonya Valcourt, under20 girls 400m, 52.12. Lanaisha Lubin, under20 girls triple jump, 40-8 ¼ (12.40m). Ishmael Rolle, under-17 boys 100m, 10.62. Carlos Brown Jr, under20 boys 100m, 10.38. Darvinique Dean, under17 girls 400m hurdles, 1:02.50. Lavardo Deveaux, under20 boys octathlon, 5,197 points. Boys under-20 4 x 100m relay team of Zachary Rahming, Adam Musgrove and Carlos Brown Jr, 39.78. Girls under-17 4 x 100m relay team of Darvinique Dean, Jamiah Nabbie, Bayli Major and Shayann Demeritte, 46.43. Dior-Rae Scott, under-17 girls javelin, 42.29. Otto Laing, under-20 boys 110m hurdles, 13.49. Under-17 boys 4 x 400m relay team, 3:20.47. Laquan Ellis, under20 triple jump, 48-11 ½ (14.92m.
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BAHAMAS 2ND OVERALL BEHIND POWERHOUSE JAMAICA By TENAJH SWEETING tsweeting@tribunemedia.net THE 50th Oaktree Medical CARIFTA Games wrapped up last night at the Thomas A Robinson stadium. The athletes of Team Bahamas shined on and off the track to add to the home country’s medal count. Going into the final day, The Bahamas had already surpassed last year’s medal count with a total of 26 medals after two days of action. The team secured 17 medals at last year’s CARIFTA Games. Team Bahamas wrapped up the games in second place behind Jamaica. In the final day of action, more athletes added medals to the fold for Team Bahamas. Kamera Strachan and Dior-Rae Scott finished first and second respectively in the under
17 women’s javelin. Strachan notched a throwing distance of 46.07m to claim gold for The Bahamas. Her teammate secured silver with a throwing distance of 45.13m. The young athletes talked about how it felt to finish first and second alongside each other. “Last year I came forth and I was a little sad but now I set my mind to say I am gonna get the record,” Strachan said. Scott talked about how it felt to get a personal best in the competition. “I am really excited that I was able to personal best and I am more than proud of my teammate. It wasn’t what I expected but I am still proud of myself nevertheless,” she said. In more gold in action on day three, Jamiah Nabbie collected her second gold medal in the under 17 girls 200m finals. She clocked a
time of 23.67 in the highly anticipated finals race. She was followed by Naomi London for second place and Jamaica’s Natrece East, who came third with 23.85. Nabbie talked about how it felt to win the second gold medal for herself and The Bahamas. “It feels amazing. I came into the race a little fatigued and tight from the events over the past weekend but I still came out with a gold. I
pushed hard in my race and I wanted to make my parents and country proud,” the gold medallist said. She added that her motivation during the last couple mets was to keep her eyes on the finish line, not put too much pressure on herself, and keep her pace to come out with the win. The under 17 girls 200m finals gave momentum to the boys because they came right behind to win
WNBA adding charter flights for playoffs, back-to-back games By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA is adding charter flights for the entire playoffs and back-to-back regular season games this year, the league announced yesterday. The league will pay for all of the flights. “It’s significant dollars,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The Associated Press. “Now that we have best of three and five in the semifinals and finals. ... You add it up it’s a lot of flights.” The cost is expected to be around $4.5 million, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because details haven’t been publicly released.
Last year, the league chartered for the WNBA Finals as well as for the road team in the Commissioner’s Cup championship game. Since taking over in 2019, Engelbert has slowly added a few more charter opportunities for teams. She allowed playoff teams that were travelling for more than one time zone to fly charter if they only had a day between games in the past. “It’s something I’ve been working on since I came into the league,” she said. “It was never coming up with money for one year, but creating a sustainable model for the charter programme to continue in perpetuity. Once you do it, you have to do it every year.” Engelbert said that there will be five charters needed during the regular season.
CATHY Engelbert (AP) Most of them are short trips between Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix. The longest one takes the Seattle Storm from Washington to Atlanta. “As we continue to work on our growth as I’ve said we would chip away on this,” she said. Engelbert also said that the league has had discussions with the Mercury and Brittney Griner about her travel arrangements.
Griner is back in the WNBA after her ninemonth legal fight in Russia, during which she was detained when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage, then later arrested before being released in a high-level prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia. “We’ve been working with Brittney and Phoenix since she signed and our security experts,” the commissioner said. “Working on a plan, but we want it to be confidential. She wants to travel with the team sometimes. Work as much as we can making sure we are following advice of our team. We have a very good plan, but I’m not going to share more specifics.”
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HERE is a look at the medal winners for The Bahamas from the Oaktree Medical Center’s 50th CARIFTA Games held over the Easter holiday weekend at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium. Gold medallists Kaden Cartwright, under20 boys javelin, 210-feet, 2-inches or 64.07m, Jamiah Nabbie, under-17 girls 100m, 11.67. Boys under-17 4 x 100m relay team of Trent Ford, Andrew Brown, Cayden Smith and Ishmael Rolle, 41.46. Brenden Vanderpool, under-20 boys pole vault, 16-7 ¼ (5.06m). Kamera Strachan, under17 girls javelin, 43.59m. Under-20 mixed 4 x 400 relay team of Javonya Valcourt, Lacarthea Cooper, Tamani Skinner and Shimar Bain, 3:24.62. Kenyce Scavella, under17 girls discus, 32.70m. Jamiah Nabbie, girls under-17 200m, 23.67. Caden Smith, under-17 boys 200m, 21.70
Koepka collapses as Rahm rolls to Masters win By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Brooks Koepka will no doubt hear the same murmured joke no matter where he goes in the coming days and weeks. If only the Masters was 54 holes. Like those tournaments on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit. If that was the case, Koepka would’ve been wearing a green jacket on the 18th green at Augusta National, rather than making the dejected march from there to the locker room. He had a four-shot lead over Jon Rahm when they resumed third rounds that had been halted by weather,
and a two-shot lead when the round finished, before shooting 3-over 75 in his final round. Rahm closed with a 69 to finish at 12 under. By the time Koepka slid a birdie putt past on his 72nd hole, he was left at 8 under and tied for second with LIV Golf compatriot Phil Mickelson, whose finishing 65 had sent him shooting up the leaderboard. The previous three times Koepka had a 54-hole lead in a major, he went on to win. “Obviously it’s super disappointing, right? Didn’t play good enough to win,” he said. “Hit some shots where I also
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