Spencer
(SNO) – Saint Lucia’s Levern Spencer is set to go for a hat-trick of titles at the 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games next month.
The “CACSO” (Central American and Caribbean Sports Organisation) Games will be held in 2018 in Barranquilla, Colombia from July 19 to August 3.
Saint Lucia is set to be represented by 13 athletes in six disciplines.
Spencer leads the team in the women’s high jump. She has had three of Saint Lucia’s five medals since the nation first took part in this competition back in 1993. In San Salvador, El Salvador, Dominic Johnson won men’s pole vault, Saint Lucia’s first medal, back in 2001. He would follow up with silver in 2006, when Spencer also took bronze in Cartagena, Colombia.
But in the last two editions of the Games, in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and Veracruz, Mexico, Spencer ripped off clearances of 1.94m and 1.89m for back-to-back gold. Having surpassed 1.90m several times this season, she will travel to Colombia as the clear-cut favourite for the title.
Another one to watch will be Albert Reynolds, who earlier this year made the Commonwealth Games final in the men’s javelin throw. He is ranked in the top five in the CAC region and could make the medal rostrum if all goes well for him.
The Games will also see the return of horizontal jumper Sandisha Antoine to national duty. The Martinique-based athlete will compete in women’s long jump and triple jump.
Unfortunately, Saint Lucia’s team will not include Jeannelle Scheper, who would be a realistic medal prospect in the high jump based on her performances to date for the year.
It will be interesting to see how Stephanie Lovell has progressed from her CAC debut in 2014, when she was fourth. Aged, 22, will she be able to win Saint Lucia’s first medal in women’s laser radial at these Games, and the first ever in a sport other than athletics?
In boxing, Lyndell “the Russian” Marcellin will vie for the welterweight 69kg class, whilst Nathan “Furious” Ferrari will go in the light welterweight 64kg category.
Beach volleyball will see Jamilla Lansiquot and Tyna William in the women’s competition, and Augustin Faulkner will team up with Tevin St. Jean to take on the men’s tournament.
Swimming, as is more often than not the case, will see two new faces representing the sport at this level, in Jean-Luc Zephir and Katie Kyle.
Saint Lucia will not send cyclists or tennis players to Colombia, but will send a tae kwon Do practitioner for the first time since 2002, 87kg middleweight Nisso Etienne. Etienne was a Caribbran gold medalist in Combat Sambo earlier this year.
The coaching contingent will include Conrad Fredricks (boxing), Terry Verdant (beach volleyball), Samuel Decaille (tae kwon do), Rob Hemming (sailing) and David Peterkin (swimming).
5,854 athletes from 37 nations are expected to take part in this edition of the CACSO Games. Saint Lucia’s first time out in Puerto Rico 1993, the team comprised athletics, cycling, and tennis. With its five medals, Saint Lucia sits 25th on the all-time medals table.
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