Local sprint sensation Jaleel Croal has advanced to the finals of 200-meter event at the Cali 2021 inaugural Junior PanAm Games, after finishing third in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Croal ran a time of 21.24 seconds to secure his spot and he will be competing in that final later today at 7pm local time.
The 18-years old came out of the race feeling positive about his time and performance.
He said, “Before the race I was nervous but I said to myself that the hard part is qualifying and the fun part is the finals. Once on the track I felt better and I felt good coming out of the blocks and overall felt the race was good. I am very happy about it and will be ready to give it my 100 percent in the finals.”
Also commenting on the race was Coach Ralston “Grandfather” Henry who expressed great content with the manner in how Jaleel executed his race.
He said, “It was a very good time with which to open the season at this time of the year. He ended the season with 21.10 so coming back with a 21.24 to start the season was very good. I’m looking forward to what we will see in the finals.”
Sailing
Meanwhile, in sailing, Thad Lettsome closed out his first day of racing the ILCA7 laser with a 5th and 4th place finish out of a fleet of 14 which, according to Coach Chris Watters, is exactly where they planned to be.
Speaking on the two races was Coach Watters who said, “Thad did a really good job starting, sailing smart and conservatively. We want to be in the middle of the hunt all the way through the end so we’re hoping for similar conditions tomorrow.”
Lettsome also commented on his performance, stating, “The first day of the regatta went well,” said Thad. “We’re looking to maintain a consistent score line and then perhaps look at being more aggressive and making a push after the first race as that would mark the halfway point of the event.”
Lettsome will compete in 4 more races with 2 each today Friday, December 3 and tomorrow Saturday, December 4.
3×3 Basketball
In the meantime, the BVI 3×3 basketball team competed in their first two matches of their first international game where they lost out to Puerto Rico 5-21 in a shakeup match.
The 2nd match against Colombia went better for the team as they held the lead for the first part before finally conceding the game by 6 points for a 9-15 score. The team comprising Michael Richardson, Shakeem Tyson, Stephano Paul, D’Andre Mitchum and Coach Trevor “West” Stevens will face Venezuela at 11:30am BVI time today Friday, December 3.