Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
The University at Albany Women’s team had a great weekend at the America East Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Track at New Balance this past weekend.
The team finished second with 196 points, just half-a-point behind University of Massachusetts Lowell. Fifty of Albany’s points came from the team’s sweep of both 60m and 200m dashes led by sophomore Dominique Clarke.
The former Papine High School athlete won the 60m dash in 7.45, breaking her own record of 7.55 set last year. Her teammates – Adaliz Hunt (7.60) and Rori Lowe (7.64) - completed the sweep for UAlbany.
It was the same in the 200m that Clarke won in a championship record of 23.69. Teammates Jazmen Newberry (23.85) which was also under the previous record of 24.04 with Lowe finishing third equaling the previous standard.
“She and her teammates did something not many teams have done in conference companionships across the US, swept both 60m and 200m,” said Coach Junior Burnett.
“First time in UAlbany track and field history.”
Burnett explained that Clarke is still learning the technical aspects, which makes her performance all that more impressive.
“She did very well yesterday. She won both 60m and 200m, great effort and performance under the situation that she is learning both indoor events,” he said.
“But she stepped up and delivered two big wins for us toward team championship. She’s our silent leader. She’s a very talented athlete but more of an outdoor athlete.
“She is willing do everything for our team. She was confident going in and performed well, defended her 60m title from last year and captured the 200m title.”
Coach Burnett said he expects a lot from her once the season moves outdoors in the spring.
Travis Williams said his record run to win the 200m at the America East Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday came as a bit of a surprise but he knew the 60m record would go.
His coach, meanwhile, is pleased with the progress the young sprinter has been showing this season.
The 19-year-old sophomore at the University at Albany in New York established a new conference record, championship and school record of 6.64 while storming to victory in the 60m dash. The time was just off his lifetime of 6.59 set at the Millrose Games on February 11.
Later in the day, he clocked 20.89, also a championship and conference record to win the 200m and take the sprint double at the championships, capping a fantastic weekend for the emerging sprinter, whose previous indoor best was 21.71.
“It felt great! The 60m record was always up for grabs it was just me that had to go do what was needed to be done,” he told Sportsmax.TV.
“The 200m record was what really shocked me because I always knew I was going to run something fast but I never knew it was going to be anywhere near 20.89. I guess I underestimated my abilities to pull off a 20-point indoor.”
The performances, he said, have been a fillip as he prepares for the NCAA Division 1 nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico in three weeks.
“It was a huge confidence booster because I know it’s only going to translate over more to my 60m over the next three weeks and hopefully pull off a win. I know I have the capabilities to do something great it’s just up to me to do what needs to be done.”
Assistant Coach for Sprints at Albany Junior Burnett revealed that he was impressed by Williams’ showing on the weekend and indicated that he has been making progress in training.
“It was a great weekend for Travis and the short sprinters. I feel very happy for his success on the track, performances, victories, and records. After a great week of training, it was fabulous to see these records go down,” Coach Burnett said.
“Travis executed his races very well. He remained focused on the details for success. He didn’t perform to his competition level, but out-performed them.
“His level of confidence going in was high and that propelled him to these victories and records. Just running with Christian Coleman and beating him to 20m is big for him.”
The coach said Travis has been making good progress this season and continues to do so as he prepares for nationals.
“I am pleased with his progress at this point in time. He is doing must things asked of him,” Coach Burnett said.
“He has the NCAA D1 national meet in three weeks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Preparation will be geared towards that. So he has to remain locked in to detail for the next 15 days in order to achieve the goals set.
“He is grasping the things asked of him in each training session - Correct blocks clearance, acceleration angles and transition phase and relax max velocity.”
Travis’ performance at Millrose and again at the America East Championships have put him in the spotlight, Coach Burnett believes, and it has been deserved because of the work the young sprinter has been putting in to get where he is now.
“Travis breaking two conference records opened many eyes across US East and West Coast. People are looking at what he’s doing in Albany, New York,” the proud coach said.
“These records are testament of his hard work, confidence in training and system of training. We have a great training and practice environment at Albany with the likes of Shakur Williams and others create winning atmosphere.”
Travis Williams backed up his 6.59s 60m dash at Millrose Games on February 11, by winning the sprint-double at the America East Indoor Track and Field Championships Sunday.
On the back of their win against Ireland that broke a streak of 15 consecutive losses in T20 Internationals, the West Indies Women pulled off a thrilling three-run win against Pakistan Women at Paarl on Sunday.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, the West Indies scored 116-6 from their 20 overs. Needing 117 for victory, Pakistan feel short scoring 113-5.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, the West Indies Women got off to a solid start scoring 33 runs but lost their captain Hayley Matthews for 20 in the six over.
Rashada Williams and Shemaine Campbell added 40 for the second wicket but then Williams was dismissed by Sadia Iqbal for 30.
Chinelle Henry, who joined Campbell at the crease, scored a quick 10 from 11 balls but was soon dismissed, out leg before to Nida Dal with the score at 86.
Campbell was next to go for 22 and the West Indies Women had lost their way, scoring 26 from the final 26 balls with Shabika Gajnabi scoring 13 and Aaliyah Alleyne nine.
Having bowled Alleyne at the death, Dar finished with 2-13 with Iqbal taking 1-18.
Pakistan Women made hard work of the chase losing their first two wickets with only 15 runs on the board during the Powerplay.
Captain Bismah Maroof and Dar put on 44 for the third wicket but then Dar was dismissed by Afy Fletcher for 27. Maroof was next to go for 26 after she and Aliya Riaz had put on 30 for the fourth wicket.
Riaz threatened to take the game away from the West Indies in the final over with her team needing 17 for victory.
After Fatima Sana hit Shamilia Connell for four off the first ball, she took a single to leave Pakistan nine runs short of the target with three balls remaining.
She hit Connell for consecutive fours but then chopped the fifth onto her stumps to be out for 29.
Matthews, who the wickets of opener Muneeba Ali for five and Maroof ended with 2-14.
Karishma Ramharack took 1-18 while Connell returned figures of 1-31.
Coach Lorne Donaldson believes Jamaica's Reggae Girlz needs to a better job at managing games following his team's 3-2 loss to the Czech Republic in the FFA Nations Cup in Australia on Sunday.
“There’s some stuff, but we’ve got to be able to manage games,” he said after Sunday’s loss. “We conceded in the last minute of the first half and in the second half, we decided to give up a goal because we’re thinking outside the box.
“Managing the game, especially when you’re tired is key and we were awful at that.”
In what was a much better showing than their 3-0 loss to Spain on Thursday, Jamaica conceded from the penalty spot in the 24th minute after Satara Murray was deemed to have fouled Kristyna Ruzickova, after she drove into the box.
Andrea Staskova converted from the spot.
Jamaica would pull level in the 42nd following some quality build-up play involving Havana Solaun, Drew Spence and Trudi Carter, whose pass found Jody Brown who buried her shot from just inside the box for her 14th international goal.
However, Klara Cahynova headed in from a corner in first-half stoppage time to give her team a 2-1 lead at the break.
Ten minutes after the resumption debutant Kameron Necole Simmons collected a rebound from a Spence attempt on goal and slotted into the bottom left corner to pull Jamaica level once again.
It was her first international goal for Jamaica.
However, Jamaica conceded in the 90th minute from a low cross that found Alena Peckova wide open at the far post for an easy tap-in and victory for the Czech Republic.
Jamaica will next play hosts Australia on February 22.
Before the completion of the 60m final at 2023 Millrose Games at the Armory in New York on Saturday, February 11, not many Jamaicans would have known about Travis Williams.
Simone Edwards, Jamaica and former Seattle Storm player in the WNBA, has died after a prolonged fight with ovarian cancer. She was 49 years old.
Edwards, who was diagnosed with aggressive ovarian cancer in early 2021, passed away at her home in Florida on Thursday.
Her passing was announced by the Seattle Storm on Thursday night.
“We are saddened by the passing of our very own Simone Forbes,” the franchise posted on Twitter.
“Our Jamaican Hurricane was a warrior on and off the court. With her indefatigable energy and optimism, she brought happiness to so many.
“Our thoughts and condolences are with Simone’s family and loved ones at this time.”
Forbes was the first Jamaican female player to play in the WNBA, playing for the New York Liberty and the Seattle Storm, winning the WNBA title in 2004.
She retired from the WNBA in 2006.
On August 5, 2007, she was hired as an assistant coach at Radford University and she was an assistant at George Mason University from 2008-2011.
Edwards coached the Jamaican women's national basketball team and led them to a 2014 Caribbean Championship.
On August 6, 2017, the Government of Jamaica conferred the national award, the Order of Distinction which is bestowed on citizens of Jamaica who have rendered outstanding and important service to Jamaica in their field.
President of Jamaica Basketball Association, Paulton Gordon was shock and saddened by the news.
“We heard this afternoon that she has passed. I spoke with her about three weeks ago and she was upbeat,” he said.
“We are really saddened at her passing. She was the national coordinator for our youth teams and we were looking to working closely with her to prepare the U17 team for the regional competition this year.
“Condolences to her immediate family, her friends and the broader basketball family. I will certainly miss her technical guidance and support for Jamaica Basketball.”
Briana Williams is set to run another 60m this month and two 200m races in March as she continues preparations for the championship year ahead.
Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Spain in their opening match of the Cup of Nations at Central Coast Stadium in Australia on Thursday.
Four-time Jamaican national champion Traves Smikle attributes off-season changes to his training and becoming a father for the first time as the main factors behind his world-leading throw at the King of the Ring meeting at Excelsior High School in Kingston on Saturday, February 11.
On his fifth throw of the competition, the 30-year-old Smikle blew past his previous best of 67.72m to record a new best mark of 68.14 to claim victory over his former Calabar High teammates Fedrick Dacres (66.32m) and Chad Wright (59.94).
Obviously chuffed at establishing a new mark in the ultra-competitive world of discus, Smike expressed gratitude.
“I feel happy about it. For a good while I have been trying to hit a throw over 68; it’s unreal (laughs) but I am grateful,” said the 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, who for the past few years, has battled to overcome injury and other life challenges.
With those issues hopeful behind him, he and Coach Julian Robinson plotted a new path for the coming season, especially with the new qualifying standards set by World Athletics as well as him becoming a father for the first time.
“Preparation, with each year as you get older, as you get more experienced, will vary and my coach and I, we spoke extensively on a few things that we would change to see if we could get better throws this year,” Smikle revealed.
“The qualifying mark is 67m, so immediately the mindset had to change as well because the standard has risen; physical changes, changes in the gym; overall a different approach for this season, I think that is what gave me and I have a little one now so there is motivation all round,” he said. “And it was a good series too; 64, then 66 on the second, foul, 66, third, foul and 68 on the fifth and then a foul again on the sixth.”
Saturday’s result has caused him to have a positive outlook for the season ahead.
“Overall, things are looking good,” said the NACAC champion, who finished a runner-up to Dacres in his opening meet in Manchester in January with a throw of 63.98m, “just to see where I was with the changes.”
The next step, he said, is finding those big marks more consistently.
“I am looking to be more consistent over the big marks because in the world of discus, if you’re not throwing 68/69m it makes no sense, so I am looking to be consistent throwing those marks and throwing them when it counts,” he said.
West Indies Women fell to a second consecutive defeat at the 2023 ICC Women’s World Cup on Wednesday, losing by six wickets to India at Newlands.
The West Indies were restricted to 118-6 from their 20 overs, a total India overhauled getting to 119-4 from 18.1 overs.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, the West Indies, despite the early loss of Captain Hayley Matthews for two, laid a solid foundation for a competitive score in the Powerplay.
After losing Matthews to the bowling of Pooja Vastrakar with only four runs on the board, Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbell shared in a second wicket partnership of 73 before disaster struck in the 14th over bowled by Deepti Sharma.
With her third ball, Sharma caught and short third-man for 30. Three balls later and one run later, Sharma struck again trapping Taylor lbw for 42.
The West Indies were in further trouble when Chinelle Henry was run out for two in the 15th.
From there the West Indies Women struggled to accelerate the scoring despite the efforts of Chedean Nation who scored an unbeaten 21 from 18 balls and Shabika Gajnabi’s 15 from 13.
Player of the Match Sharma would later bowl Afy Fletcher for a duck to finish the impressive figures of 3-15.
Rashada Williams was not out on two at the other end as the West Indies innings closed on 118-6.
Karishma Ramharck and Matthews tried to make a fight of it claiming the first three Indian wickets with 43 runs on the board in the eighth over.
Ramharack took the wickets of openers Shafali Verma for a 23-ball 28 with the score at 32 and Matthews got Jerimah Rodriquez caught and bowled for one to make it 35-2.
Ramharack then Smriti Mandhana stumped for 10 in the eighth over and India were 43-3.
However, by the 10th over India were scoring at better than six runs an over as Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh, helped by some wayward bowling, filled their boots with an stand of 72 that took India within four runs of victory.
Ghosh, unbeaten on 44, struck Shamilia Connell for the winning runs first ball of the 19 over for match to send the West Indies Women to their 15th consecutive defeat in T20 internationals and their eighth straight against India.
Ramharack was the best of the bowlers with 2-14 with Matthews taking 1-12 and Henry 1-21.
Shirley Clarke has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Windward Islands Volcanoes franchise with immediate effect. Clarke will be replaced on an interim basis by South African Russel Sising.
Chairman of the Windward Islands Cricket Board (WICB) Dr Kishore Shallow confirmed Clarke’s dismissal to Sportsmax.TV on Monday citing the team’s lack of performance.
“I can confirm that we have separated from Mr Clarke. The board thought that we were not necessarily on the same wavelength,” Dr Shallow said.
The decision was not a knee-jerk reaction but stemmed concerns the board had since last year during the Regional Super 50 tournament in which the Windward Island Volcanoes won only two matches, both against the Combined College and Campuses team.
Dr Shallow said a comprehensive review was done after the tournament and consequently met with Clarke on several occasions to discuss their concerns.
So far in the West Indies Championship, the Volcanoes have not won any of their two games despite playing well but simply, not well enough.
Dr Shallow, who is also the Cricket West Indies vice president, pointed out that the Volcanoes has not won any of their last seven first-class matches, hence the decision was made to move in another direction.
“Given the investments that were made, we were not getting the results,” he said.
Dr Shallow, who described Clarke as a good individual, said the parting was amicable and that he wished Clarke the best going forward.
Jamaica opened their campaign in the CONCACAF U17 tournament with an emphatic 4-2 victory over Cuba at the Doroteo Guamuch Flores Stadium in Guatemala City on Sunday.
Playing 4-4-2, Jamaica opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Jahmani Bell buried a volley from inside the box.
The score remained 1-0 until half time.
Orane Watson doubled Jamaica’s lead in the 56th minute before Ashton Gordon put the side up 3-0 in the 70th minute.
Watson put the match beyond the Cubans in the 75th minute to give the Jamaicans a 4-0 lead.
Cuba were never without a fight, however, and got a consolation in the 78th through Didier Reinoso who scored a second in the 89th.
The win means Jamaica temporarily go top of Group G that also has Costa Rica and Guadeloupe.
Costa Rica will take on Guadeloupe later Sunday.
Player of the match Carlos Brathwaite took three wickets and effected a runout while Shimron Hetmyer scored a quick-fire unbeaten 25 to help lead Gulf Giants to a seven-wicket victory over Desert Vipers and the 2023 ILT20 final in Dubai on Sunday.
The heroic Barbadian, whose four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes won the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup for the West Indies, took 3-19 and ran out opener Rohan Mustafa for just six to restrict Desert Vipers to 146-8 from their 20 overs.
He removed the dangerous Alex Hales for one, took the catch to dismiss Adam Lyth for 13, dismissed Sam Billings for 31, breaking the 72-run fifth wicket partnership with Wanindu Hasaranga, whose 55 from 27 balls propped up Desert Vipers, before returning to take the wicket of Tom Curran in the 19th over.
Qias Ahmad supported Brathwaite with the wickets of Hasaranga and Luke Wood for three to finish with figures of 2-29. Chris Jordan caught and bowled the dangerous Colin Munro for just six.
Chasing 147 for victory, Gulf Giants’s Chris Lyn scored an unbeaten 72 from 50 balls and 30 from Gerhard Erasmus before Hetmyer arrived with the final dagger, smashing 25 not out from 13 balls with five fours to propel Gulf Giants to the title with eight balls to spare.
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