Published: July 10, 2012
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U.S. Virgin Islands sprinter Allison Peter wrapped up her Olympic preparation on an auspicious note as she collected a silver medal in the 200-meters on the final day of competition at the North American, Central American and Caribbean U-23 Track and Field Championships during the weekend in Irapuato, Mexico.
USVI hurdler Leslie Murray also bolstered his hardware collection, capturing a bronze in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles on Saturday. He is not headed to London.
Peter had a strong turn and made up the stagger on the runners on the outside. The Crucian's time was 22.92 seconds; USA's Kimberly Duncan had a winning time of 22.72; and Duncan's teammate Cambria Jones placed third, finishing in 23 seconds.
Murray, running from lane 7, controlled much of the race, despite stumbling. He lost the lead after hitting the 10th barrier and losing momentum, allowing USA's Michael Stigler to take control. Stigler nipped Jefferson Gibson of the Bahamas at the finish line to win in 50.27 seconds.
"I executed my race the way I wanted to for the first 250, had a great start, and I was in the lead for a long time," Murray said. "But I messed up the last part of the race. My steps were off, clipped a couple hurdles and didn't finish as strong as I wanted to."
Murray said the bronze medal showing was "pretty good" despite the miscues and that it capped off what he described as a a "horrible" season. He said that he now knows what to do to get better.
"This is my third race all season, and I didn't really have much to work off of, as I didn't run in NCAA competitions this year since I redshirted. It has been a very short season," he said. "It could have been a lot better, but I'm happy that I ended my season in a pretty good way. I now know what I need to do next year to run 48s and 49s." Three other USVI athletes also performed in Mexico:
- Halim Abdul placed fifth in the triple jump.
- Seymour Walters finished seventh in the 800-meters final in 1 minute and 57.08 seconds. He advanced to the final after running 1:53.57 in the prelims.
- Sprinter Karl Williams posted non-advancing times of 10.69 in the 100-meters and 21.90 in the 200-meters.
- Ninfa Barnard narrowly missed the cut in the 800-meters, posting a time of 2 minutes and 18.16 seconds.
The BVI's Ashley Kelly placed fifth in the 200-meters in Mexico to close out her 2012 season. Kelly posted a time of 23.77 seconds, just ahead of teammate Britney Wattley, who clocked 24.17.
Kelly also finished fifth in the 400-meters, after advancing with a time of 53.56. She became the first BVI woman to qualify for a final event at the NACAC U-23 Championships.
Keron Stoute also represented the BVI in Mexico. He placed seventh in the high jump.
Elsewhere, the Olympic dream for the BVI's Karene King and Chantel Malone ended at the Moncton Hub City Classic in Halifax, Canada. King - seeking to make an Olympic Games B qualifying standard - finished third in the 200-meters in 23.65, missing the qualifying mark of 23.30.
Malone's Olympic hopes ended with a third place run of 53.02 seconds in the 400-meters - far off her season's best of 52.48 and her 52.35 personal best - which is the Olympic Games B qualifying mark.
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