By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

AFTER leading for most of the way, Kendrick Thompson couldn’t finish the gruelling 1,500 metres and American Austin West went on to clinch the gold in the men’s decathlon at the 5th North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships over the weekend.

Over the two days of competition on Friday and Saturday at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex in Grand Bahama, West clinched the title with 8,038 points for a new championship record. Thompson got second with 7,515 and Kenny Moxey Jr was third with 6,412.

None of the competitors were able to surpass the qualifying standard of 8,550 points for the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, September 13-21.

But all three competitors accumulated more points than the previous championship record of 6,330 that was set by Darvin Colon of Honduras in 2007.

Thompson, the 28-year-old national champion making his comeback, admitted that everything was going okay for him until he got disqualified in the 1,500m and he didn’t get to score any points. 

“It was one of the best decathlons I set up thus far. It would have been a PB for me,” said Thompson, the former Bahamian national record holder with a total of 8,182 points before he suffered a series of injuries that sidelined him for the past year. As for his compatriot, Thompson had nothing but high marks for Moxey Jr. “Kenny is going to be a great decathlete. He is a confident young fella,” Thompson said. “He is the future in the making. Congratulations to him on his bronze medal.”

Although it wasn’t what he anticipated, the 18-year-old Moxey Jr said he was glad to get his feet wet in such a high level of competition on his first senior national team.

“It was a good competition honestly. Even though I did not perform up to my expectations in certain events I am happy to leave with some personal records and lifetime best in others,” he said.

“It was great competing with world class athletes and especially one from my own country. This meet has opened my eyes to what is possible for me in the future and has inspired me to keep pressing on and working toward bettering myself so that one day I’ll be able to go toe to toe with the greats.”

The event started out as a four-man field, but before the end of the first day on Friday, Esteban Ibanez of El Salvador had to withdraw due to an injury.

West, taking advantage of Thompson’s inability to finish the 1,500m, closed out the grueling ten-event in the three and three-quarter lap race in four minutes and 47.16 seconds for 636 points.

Moxey Jr came in second in 5:43.98 for 333 points.

Thompson won the javelin with a heave of 211-feet, 10-inches for 807 points with West comp=ing in second with 201-8 (61.48m for 760 pts) and Moxey Jr was third with 153-0 (46.64m for 539 pts).

West took the pole vault with a height of 15-1 (4.60m for 790 pt). Thompson was second with 14-5 1/4 (4.40m and 731 pts) and Moxey jr cleared 13-9 1/4 (4.20m for 673 pts).

West also picked up the win in the discus with his heave of 137-11 (42.04m) for 706 pts. Thompson qas second with 131-02 (40.00m and 665 pts) and Moxey Jr was third with 92-8 (28.24m and 430 pts).

 Thompson had opened up with a time of 14.31 for the gold in the 110m hurdles (935 pts). West clocked 15.08 for second (840 pts)and Moxey Jr was third wirth 15.42 (799 pts).

After the first five events on day one, Thompson led wirth 4,377 points, followed by American Austin West with 4,306 and Moxey Jr in third with 3,638.

Thompson opened the competition with his victory in the 100m in 10.73 for 922 points with West running 10.90 (883 pts), Ibanez in 11.20 (817 pts) and Moxey Jr in 11.34 (786 ptss).

Thompson also took the long jump with his leap of 25-9 1/2 (7.86m for 1,025 pts) with West clearing 23-9 (7.24m for 871 pts), Ibanez 22-10 3/4 (6.98m for 809 pts) and Moxey Jr with 21-1 1/4 (6.44m for 684 pts).

It was a slightly different result in the shot put with West winning with 47-9 (14.55m for 762 pts), Moxety Jr second with 43-11 1/4 (13.39m for 691 pts); Thompson third with 42-10 3/4 (13.07m for 672 pts) and Ibanez coming in fourth with 36-4 (11.07m or 550 pts).

West again prevailed in the high jump with his leap of 6-8 1/.4 (2.04m for 840 pts) with Thompson getting second with 6-7 (2.10m for 813 pts) and Moxey Jr taking third with 6-3 1/2 (1.92m for 731 pts). Ibanez dropped out of the competition after he failed to start. 

And as they closed out the first day, it was the same order of finish in the 400m with West running 47.17 for the win for 950 pts, followed by Thompson in 47.26 (945 pts) for second and Moxey Jr third in 51.52 (746 pts).