CedarBridge Track Team Excels In Barbados
CedarBridge Academy [CBA] returned to Bermuda last Sunday after a successful track and field tour to Barbados. The returning team was received by Director of Youth, Sport and Recreation, Norbert Simons and jubilant parents at the airport.
Clevonte Lodge, Berkeley student, who was invited by CBA as a late replacement for one of its injured athletes, went on to meet the CARIFTA qualifying standard in the under 17 400m at the Louis Lynch Championships.
Lodge ran 50.58 secs in the prelims and advanced to the finals where he finished 2nd in a time of 49.36, but was later promoted to the win after the initial winner was disqualified for a lane violation.
CBA’s team captain, Deneo Brangman, came close to qualifying in his first year in the under 20 division running a personal best time of 48.87 secs in the prelims where he finished 2nd in the third of four preliminary heats. The CARIFTA qualifying standard is 48.5 secs.
After competing in the 400m rounds and the 100m prelims, Brangman went on to run in a very competitive final, which included CARIFTA gold medalists. Brangman finished 5th. Last year, Brangman made the qualifying standard in Barbados in both the 200m and 400m events in the under 17 division while competing in the February Classic [2017].
Similarly, Telilah Wears, met the qualifying standard in the girls under 17 200m last year and both went on to represent Bermuda in Curaçao at the Games.
“Though I didn’t make the CARIFTA standard on this trip, I am proud of my new personal best time and I am most proud of the effort and dedication put into the relays from the entire team,” Brangman said. “We showed Barbados that we are a force to be reckoned with on the track.”
The CBA track and field team comprised 15 student-athletes who competed in the Barbados Relay Fair. Seven of the 15 athletes competed in the Louis Lynch Championships. Stephan Dill, former Berkeley Student, now in his final year in the under 20 boys’ division, ran the 100m in 10.90 and advanced to the final to finish 6th in a close final in the same time of 10.90.
Also competing at the Louis Lynch Championships were Kanzi Emery, female under 17 long jump, Brijette Basden, women’s 100m dash open, Telilah Wears, women’s 100m and 400m dash open, and Mikal Dill, men’s long jump open.
“The main purpose of competing in the Louis Lynch Championships is to garner competition for our senior student-athletes while competing against some of the best in Barbados, and similarly to afford them the opportunity to achieve personal bests and meet the CARIFTA qualifying standards to go on to represent their country,” Denise Weekes-Burke, CBA teacher and Barbados trip organizer, said.
While in Barbados, 15 of CBA athletes had the opportunity to participate in the St. George Secondary School Sports Day as practice for the Barbados Relay Fair where the teams competed against some of the best athletes from various schools and clubs in Barbados and the Caribbean.
The under 17 boys team comprised, Zion Thompson, Da-Neko Hardy, T’syi Showers and Clevonte Lodge that finished 6th overall in the both the boy’s 1600 sprint medley and 4x100m relay.
The under 20 girls’ included six athletes, Jah-Qala Tucker, Kanzi Emery, Brijette Basden, Destini Hill-Edwards, Xqueilla Trott and Telilah Wears. The quartet of Basden, Hill-Edwards, Trott and Wears finished 4th overall in the 4x400m relay and 6th in the 4x100m relay.
The under 20 boys’ team comprising Deneo Brangman, Stephan Dill, Mikal Dill and Jahkeylo Burgess were highly touted to threaten for the win in the 4x100m relay but suffered some misfortune after Jahkeylo Burgess, pulled up on the first leg with a hamstring injury.
The team of Brangman, Dill, Mikal Dill and Lodge, subsequently went on to run the 4x400m, with great heart, to finish 2nd in their timed final heat but 8th overall out of the 10 competing teams. The under 20 boys sprint medley team including Brangman, Dill, Mikal Dill and Jalun Hassell, finished 7th overall out of the 13 teams.
“Events in the senior division are always highly competitive and we are proud of the efforts of the entire team,” Weekes-Burke added. The team, accompanied by CBA staff Alfreida Dill, Collin Stewart, Erica Osbourne and Weekes-Burke, was well received in Barbados, featured in a local newspaper article, interacted with students and coaching staff at two outstanding local high schools and experienced the culture of Barbados through a range of activities.
Ms Dill must be a immortal she looks the same as when i was in primary school