Big Red Machine Race Out Front On Day One

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NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS – The defending champs have some work to do and we look at some of the top performers on day one of BAISS track and field.

The St. Augustine’s College Big Red Machine topped the points standings with 418.5 points, followed by the Queen’s College Comets with 362 points, and the Temple Christian Suns in third with 175.5 points.

Several athletes also hit CARIFTA qualifying marks.

SAC’s Jayla Smith won the under-17 girls 100 meters hurdles in a personal best 14.42 seconds, and teammate Carlin Archer also met the CARIFTA mark in the under-20 boys long jump with a distance of 7.15 meters.

World Baseball Classic

Renaldo was able to see Team Great Bahamas finish off the WBC with a bang he filed this report.

They can breathe a sigh of relief – Great Britain won’t have to requalify for the next edition World Baseball Classic.

With an 8-1 win against Brazil, they received an automatic invitation to the next edition.

Ian Lewis Jr. struck first with a game-tying home run in the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie.

QC’s Kaiden Miller qualified in the under-17 boys triple jump at 13.71 meters, QC’s Alexandria Komolafe matched the under-20 girls high jump standard at 1.65 meters.

There were also new meet records on day one.

Elexia Strachan of St. John’s broke a 20-year-old mark in the under-13 girls 1500 meters at 5:36.95 seconds, SAC’s Jireh Woodside ran 49.09 in the under-17 boys 400 meters, and the Big Red Machine’s Zhion Clarke set a new under-13 girls high jump record at 1.45 meters.

NCAA Basketball

From the moment she walked on to the FIU campus, Rhema Collins was there to be a star and she dominated Conference-USA right away.

Collins won conference USA Player of the Year, newcomer of the year, was placed on the All-Conference first team and the All-Defensive team.

At just over 17 points and 9 rebounds per game, she was top-five in C-USA in several categories.

She led the league in blocks at 1.6 per game and double doubles with 13 – ranked 24th in the nation.

Alongside Denika Lightbourne, they made the panthers a dominant team in the conference and look to continue that momentum into the postseason.

Lightbourne has averaged 9.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

They led the Panthers to record 12 conference wins and enter the C-USA tournament as the number two seed, their highest seeding in program history.

FIU receives a first round bye and will open play in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 3pm.