BELIZE CITY, Wed. Dec. 12, 2018– As we had promised in last Friday’s issue, here are the results from the inaugural Colin E. Thurton Invitational Track Meet, held on Saturday, December 1, at the Marion Jones Sports Complex. The information was provided to us by organizer Mark Usher of PROTO, who has teamed up with Belizean sprinting legend, Colin E. Thurton to conduct what is planned to become a quarterly national event:

200m Boys (Juniors 14-18 yrs):  1st Place – Francis Dujon, 28.63 sec; 2nd Jalen O’Brian 31.41 sec; 3rd Dean Belisle 32.31 sec.

200m Male Open (Over 18 yrs):  1st Place – Shamal Blanco 24.30 sec; 2nd Ahmad Arana 24.57 sec; 3rd Maurice Savery 25.18 sec.

200m Boys Infants (8-13 yrs):  1st Place – Barack Morey (no time logged); 2nd Jayden Hulse (no time logged); 3rd Andre Harris (no time logged).

200m Females Juniors (14–18 yrs):  1st Place – Mary Lucas 26.44 sec; 2nd Kendall Morgan 26.51 sec; 3rd Sheneen Gladden 31.81 sec.

800m Girls Infants (8-13 yrs):  1st Place – Kendall Morgan 2 min 52.75 sec; 2nd Jessie McLaughlin 3 min 15.51 sec; 3rd Hushanni Belisle 4 min 8.22 sec.

800m Boys Juniors (14-18 yrs):  1st Place – Michael Chaplain 2 min 42.04 sec; 2nd Austin Rodriguez 2 min 45.82 sec; 3rd Darwin Flores 3 min 14 sec.

800m Male Seniors (Over 18 yrs):  1st Place – Albert Davis 2 min 11.89 sec; 2nd Leon O’Brian 2 min 12.14 sec; 3rd Amir Ramos 2 min 16.22 sec.

100m Male Junior (14-18 yrs):  1st Place – Josh Crawford 13.72 sec; 2nd Jalen O’Brien 13.84 sec; 3rd Melvin Odiete 14.03 sec.

80m Boys Infants (8-13 yrs):  1st Place – Jayden Hulse 15.55 sec; 2nd Dorian Williams 16.37 sec; 3rd Dimari Williams 16.57 sec.

100m Male Seniors (Over 18 yrs):  1st Place – Shawn Gill 11.80 sec; 2nd Shamar Blanco 11.95 sec; 3rd Maurice Savery 12.13 sec.

400m Female Seniors (Over 18 yrs):  1st Place – Jada Parchue 1 min 8.66 sec; 2nd Kendall Morgan 1 min 8.69 sec; 3rd Jessie McLaughlin 1 min 10.08 sec.

400m Boys Infants (8-13 yrs):  1st Place – Francis Dujon 1 min 6.08 sec; 2nd Daniel Salguero 1 min 16.12 sec; 3rd Andre Harris 1 min 20 sec.

400m Male Seniors (Over 18 yrs):  1st Place – Ajani Requena 52.66 sec; 2nd Lincoln Wade 52.98 sec; 3rd Geovanni Baizar 58.99 sec.

1500m Male Juniors (14-18 yrs):  1st Place – Austin Rodriguez 6 min 28.55 sec; 2nd Michael Chaplin 6 min 29.48 sec; 3rd Ricardo Cocom 8 min 34.89 sec.

1500m Male Seniors (Over 18 yrs):  1st Place – Albert Davis 4 min 30.28 sec; 2nd Leon O’Brian 4 min 35.29 sec; 3rd Amir Ramos 4 min 53.70 sec.

80m Girls Infants (8-13 yrs):  1st Place – Elia Pech 15.62 sec; 2nd Hadie Engleton 16.15 sec; 3rd Paige Locke 18.99 sec.

100m Girls Junior (14-18 yrs):  1st Place – Mary Lucas 13.21 sec; 2nd Shaneen Gladden 13.63 sec; 3rd Jemiah Savery 14.18 sec.

(Amandala Sports Ed. Note: At the time of his reign as Belize’s (then British Honduras) fastest man, Colin Thurton ran his 200 meter heat in 22.14 seconds at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. In the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Colin clocked 11.03 seconds in his 100 meter heat.  He later went on to a long and successful career as Athletics Coach at Texas A&M University, where he was instrumental in securing an athletics scholarship for Belize’s female track phenom, Kaina Martinez, who represented Belize at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.  Kaina went on to climax a sterling athletic career at Texas A&M, Kingsville by being named one of nine finalists for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year. After Kaina had been unfairly left off Belize’s Olympic team in 2016, coach Thurton had vowed to no longer involve himself with athletics in Belize until a leadership change in the Belize Athletics Association (BAA); but he was persuaded by PROTO’s Mark Usher to lend his name, expertise and experience to this new initiative.)