Over the years it has been Levern Spencer garnishing all the headlines when it comes to high jumping. But pretty soon she may have company if high jumper Darvin Edwards continues to excel.
For now anyway, Spencer remains unchallenged as St Lucia’s most dominant track and field athlete. At the recently concluded Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships staged in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, Spencer who is world ranked in women’s high jump, came away with another gold medal performance. She cleared the bar at 1.82 metres (m) for the victory. Marielis Rojas (Venezuela) was second and Fabiola Ayala (Mexico) third.
Edwards who holds the St Lucia national record (2.28 m) came away with a bronze medal at the meet, clearing a height of 2.25 m. First place went to Trevor Barry of the Bahamas with a clearance of 2.28 m. The silver medallist was James Grayman from Antigua and Barbuda.
So far Spencer and Edwards are the only two St Lucian athletes who have qualified for the IAAF World Championships in Deagu, Korea, later this year and the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, England.
St Lucia had three other athletes competing at the Central American and Caribbean Championships but they did not medal. Makeba Alcide just missed getting a medal after a fourth place finish in the women’s heptathlon event. She accumulated 5,263 points. Gretchen Quintana (Cuba) won the gold with 5,704 points, with the silver going to Francia Manzanillo (Dominica) with 5,601 and bronze to Peaches Roach (Jamaica) with 5,589.
Albert Reynolds was ninth overall in men’s javelin recording a distance of 62.03 m. The winner of that event was Guillermo Martinez (Cuba) with a distance of 81.55 m. Second was Arley Ibarguen (Colombia) with a toss of 75.71 m, while his teammate Jaime Dayron Marquez placed third with a distance of 74.07 m.
In men’s pole vault, Rick Valcin was a seventh place finisher clearing a height of 4.60 m. Cristian Sanchez (Mexico) won the event clearing 5.00 m. Second place went to Alexander Castillo (Puerto Rico) who went over the bar at 4.90 m with Cesar Gonzalez (Venezuela) finishing third.
