Roban and Maloney continue to shine
St. Vincent & the Grenadines struck Gold and Silver at the 5th NACAC Open Championships in Freeport, Bahamas, over August 15-17.
Medals came by way of the men’s and women’s 800m events, through Handal Roban and Shafiqua Maloney.
Roban won his event, smashing his own nation record of 1:44.39, and the Championship record of 1:45.79, held by the USA’s Ryan Martin, stopping the clock at 1:42.87s. It also puts him at number 2 all time on the NCAA performance list.
He ran most of the race in 3rd place, behind Jamaica’s Tyrice Taylor and Brandon Miller of the USA.
With about 160m to go, he made a press, going by Taylor on the top bend, and chased Miller down the home stretch, passing him 20m before the line to win the race.
Shafiqua Maloney was just edged on the line in her 800m final, to finish second in 1:59.98s, and claim silver.
in her usual running approach, she led for most of the race, and faded just enough for USA’s Nia Akins to squeeze by her just before the finish line.
Other performances saw men’s 100m National Champion, McKish Compton run 10.72 to finish 5th in his semi final, 400m national champion, Brandon Valentine-Parris was 6th in his semi final with 47.60, national 800m bronze medalist, Jeremiah Laduca was also 6th in his semi final in 1:52.26, and Jabari Michael-Khensu was 7th in his 100m semi final in 10.92 and 6th in his 200m semi final in 22.04.
