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Abrams completes World Juniors race
CNMI’s Rachel Abrams finished her off-island races last Wednesday after competing in the 2012 IAFF World Junior Championships at the Olympic Stadium Lluís Companys de Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain.
The CNMI sprinter ran in the 100m race and timed in at 13.05 seconds on Heat 2 to finish sixth on her group. Her time was listed on the World Juniors website as a personal best time in an outdoor track, however it was .04 of a second behind the 13.01 she posted in the finals of the U20 100m race in the Oceania championships last month in Australia. Abrams’s time in Spain was faster than her 13.09 qualifying time in the similar race in the Land Down Under.
The 17-year-old Abrams missed the next round, as only the Top 3 runners on her heat were given qualifying tickets. Brazil Taramis de Liz was the first qualifier after clocking in at 11.56 seconds, followed by Jamaica’s Shawnette Lewin (11.78 seconds) and Bahamas’ Tayla Carter (12.00 seconds). Joining Abrams and de Liz on Heat 2 were Trinidad and Tobago’s Aaliyah Telesford (12.05 seconds), Saint Kitts and Nevis’ Brittany Morton (12.21 seconds), San Marino’s Alice Capicchioni (13.13 seconds), and Nigeria’s Goodness Thomas (13.15 seconds).
Twenty-one other runners, including advanced to the second round of the 100m sprint,
Incidentally, de Liz also posted the fastest qualifying time, tying American Dezerea Bryant, who won Heat 5. However, Bahamas’ Anthonique Strachan won the event with a blistering time of 11.20 seconds.
Meanwhile, Abrams is expected to return to Saipan this weekend after being away for more than three weeks. She left the island on June 24 with the seven-man CNMI Team that participated in the Oceania Regional Championships 2012 held at the Barlow Park in Cairns.
In the Oceania championship, she competed in the 100m and 200m runs and helped the CNMI won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay race, teaming up with Yvonne Bennett, Lia Rangamar, and Reylynn Sapong.
Then after the three-day tournament (June 27 to 29) in Cairns, Abrams traveled to Brisbane to join a training camp with her fellow World Juniors participants from Oceania Athletic Association-member countries.
By Roselyn Monroyo
Reporter
