Athletes Latroya Darrell, Aaron Evans and Shianne Smith all excelled at their respective meets over the weekend.

Competing in the Spec Towns National Team Invitational in Georgia, high jumper and triple jumper Darrell and middle distance runner Evans both reached the podium.

Darrell placed second in her specialty, the triple jump, with a leap of 12.48 metres.

She followed up with a fifth-place finish in the high jump, clearing 1.66 metres.

Evans placed third in the 1500 metres, clocking a personal best time of three minutes, 51.24 seconds.

Shianne Smith competed at the UCLA Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Invitational meet in California where she finished third overall in the heptathlon with 4745 points.

Smith placed second in the 800 metres in a time of 2:23.08 seconds, ninth in the javelin with a throw of 28.41 metres and a second in the long jump (5.52 metres).

She backed this up with a fourth place in the high jump (1.56 metres), 11th in the shot put (9.69 metres), third in the 200 metres (25.49) and tenth in the 100 metres hurdles (15.55).

Bermuda Track and Field Association president Donna Watson said: "We have been having success throughout the indoor season and this is just going over to the outdoor season.

"I'm quite pleased as most of our athletes are on track scholarships and they have no choice but to perform.

"We have a long season and we just have to make sure the athletes have a period to rest before we go into the summer season to rejuvenate.

"These track and field athletes, overseas and locally, are so focused and it's great to see such good results."

KARATE

Martial artists turned out in force last weekend at the Bermuda Open Karate Championships and Wellness Show at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess.

This was the 28th edition of Bermuda's longest running martial arts event and attracted double the number of last year's competitors in forms, weapons forms, point sparring and K-1.

Forms grandchampions were Rhianna Allen (novice girls), Ruggero Barlaba (novice boys), Jasmyn Renfroe (intermediate girls), Princeton Bailey Jr. (intermediate boys), Kaelin Cox (advanced boys), Garon Wilkinson (black belt men) and Kent Bean (junior weapons).

Point sparring winners were Laje Franklin (6 years), Zebedee Wakely (8-9 years), Jordan DeShields (9-12 years), Kent Bean (15-16 years), Jokiya Trott (green belt men), Sentwali Woolridge (black belt men) and Eugene Ford (men over 45). Woolridge defeated Ford 4/2 for point sparring grandchampion.

The K-1 format featured fighters trained in Muay Thai, San Shou and kickboxing.

Nathan Dill took out Trevor Lanyon in a second round TKO.

Sentwali Woolridge scored a straight points victory over Jonathan Mirasol while Bill McClure had a close split points win over Shannon Ford. Reyel Bowen also beat Darren Lee on split points.

GOLF

Port Royal professional Dwayne Pearman used his extensive course knowledge to post a five-over-par 76 in difficult conditions to win the latest round of the Jack Daniels Tour.

Cornell Bean (77) took second place in the Bermuda Professional Golfers' Association event with Twilton Smith (77) taking third.

Seventy-year-old Eardley Jones showed he's still got what it takes to play the longer courses, finishing fourth with a score of 83.

Next week is a Major for the Jack Daniels Golf Tour at Tucker's Point, with over $2,250 in prize money up for grabs with the prize-giving to be held at Flanagans OutBack Bar following play.

The following week will see the PGA Championship also at Tucker's Point with Pearman and Scott Roy tipped to lead the field.