Wolmer's Boys' A-shawni Mitchell eases at the finish, winning his heat in the Class One boys' 200 metres preliminaries, on the first day of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletic Championships at the National Stadium. Mitchell clocked 22.14 while Holmwood Technical's Sheldon Williams (left) took second in 22.19. St Elizabeth Technical High School's Rochane Russell (second left) placed third in 22.64, while André Henry (second right) ended sixth in 23.28. - photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
St Hugh's High were the surprise leaders among the girls while Wolmer's Boys were in front of Kingston College in the boys' race at the end of competition on the first day of the 2009 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletic Championships at the National Stadium.
The Cross Roads-based St Hugh's took silver and bronze in the girls' discus Class One to lead with 19 points, one ahead of St Jago High after three finals. They were followed by defending champions Holmwood Technical on 16, Edwin Allen High, 13, and three schools on nine points: St Elizabeth Technical HIGH School (STETHS), Manchester High and Wolmer's Girls. Vere Technical and Immaculate were tied for eighth, with six points; Morant Bay High had five and St Andrew High, one.
One jump
After just one boys' final, the long jump Class One, Wolmer's had 15 points. Ramone Bailey won with a leap of 7.41m for the Heroes Circle-based school. KC's Jerome Wilson was second with 7.15m and Kamal Fuller of Wolmer's third with 7.02m. KC were second in the points standing with 12, followed by St George's on four.
Vanessa Levy won the Class One girls' discus with a throw of 43.51m ahead of St Hugh's Candicea Bernard (43.30m) and Micara Vassell (40.79m).
Sheena Powell of Manchester High won the Class Three girls' discus with a throw of 36.96m from Kellion Knibb (St Jago), 12.34m.
St Elizabeth Technical's Rochelle Farquharson, 12.70m, took the triple jump open gold ahead of Tanya Bryan (St Jago), 12.34m.
Keiron Stewart of Kingston College, the defending champion in the boys' 400m hurdles open, has a heavy load at these championships but he looked very easy in leading all qualifiers into tomorrow's final.
Impressive
Stewart, who clocked a fast 50.29 seconds in winning last year's final, eased into this year's last eight with 53.28. St Jago's André Walsh was also impressive in placing second to Stewart in 53.39, while Nicholas Maitland of STETHS looked fairly good in winning his heat in 53.55.
The other finalists are KC's André Peart (54.16), Dwayne Extol of Wolmer's (53.41), Marlon Dixon of Calabar (54.35), St Elizabeth's Geffrey Brady (54.41) and Munro's Jodirae Blackwood, who clocked a personal best 54.41.
Top girls' title contenders, defending champions Holmwood Technical and Edwin Allen High, will both have two finalists in the 400m hurdles tomorrow.
The Tracey sisters from Edwin Allen, Nikita (59.31) and Ristananna (1:00.06), lead the way. Holmwood's pair, Tamara Keane (1:00.74) and Tamara Hunter (1:01.12), are next. The other finalists are Danielle Dowie (Wolmer's), La-Toya Campbell (Queen's), Juneille Barker (Vere) and Natassia Walker (St Jago).
Calabar's Ramone McKenzie, the hot favourite for the Class One boys' 200m, took things easy in his heat, advancing with the ninth-fastest time. McKenzie won the fourth of nine heats in 22.67 seconds. The fastest qualifier for Saturday morning's semi-finals was Jason Young of William Knibb High, who took heat five in 21.66.
Other qualifiers
Other notable qualifiers for the second round were Dexter Lee of Herbert Morrison, winner of heat nine in 21.66, St Jago's Nickel Ashmeade, who took heat eight in 21.69, and Old Harbour High's Kemar Bailey-Cole, the heat-seven winner in 21.97.
The Class One girls' 200m will begin at the semi-final stage on Saturday.
Bridgeport High's Jazeel Murphy, the man expected to blow away rivals in the Class Two boys sprints, ran the fastest 200m time of the day. He won his heat in 21.47 seconds, over a second better than the next-fastest qualifier, Wolmer's Boys' Julian Forte, with 22.52. The other leading qualifiers for the semi-finals were Travis Drummond of Calabar (22.54), Ardenne's Dane Steen (22.61), Jovan Brown of KC, with 22.69, and St George's College's Jermaine Fyffe, 22.79.
Vere Technical High had the two fastest qualifiers among Class Two girls. The lanky Celia Walters, last year's gold medalist, leads the way with 24.35, ahead of the 2008 silver medalist, Deandre Whitehorne, with 24.57.
FINALS RESULTS
Girls:
Discus Class 3: 1. Sheena Powell (Manch.) 36.96m, 2. Kellion Knibb (St Jago) 36.35m, 3. Samantha Johnson (Immac.) 31.58m, 4. Shauna Kaye Robinson (St Hugh's) 30.98m, 5. Chrisdale McCarthy (St Jago) 29.86m, 6. Natanya McNeish (Holm) 29.97m.
Triple Jump Open: 1. Rochelle Farquharson (Steths) 12.70m, 2. Tanya Bryan (St Jago) 12.34m, 3. Shanieka Thomas (Vere) 12.29m, 4. Samantha Francis (Wolmer's) 12.13m, 5. Jodian Williams (Morant Bay) 12.12m, 6. Nickiesha Beaumont (Holm) 11.92m.
Discus Class One: 1. Vanessa Levy (St Hugh's) 43.51m, 2. Candecia Bernard (St Hugh's) 43.30m, 3. Micara Vassell (St Hugh's) 40.79m, 4. Christina Barrett (Holm) 37.55, 5. Shantay Allen (Edwin Allen) 36.61m, 6. Kaycia Greaves (Holm) 34.64.