Top juniors will be at national trial

Raymond Graham, Gleaner Writer

JAMAICA will be hoping to send a strong team to the World Junior Track and Field Championships which will be held in Moncton, Canada, July 20-25, and the country's top under-20 athletes will be seeking to cement their places on the team when the National Junior Championships is held on June 12 and 13.

Recently, there were fears that some athletes could be absent from the championships as Boys and Girls' Championships winners, Wolmer's Boys and Holmwood Technical, along with Vere Technical's male team and St Jago and Manchester High's female 4x400 metres teams, have been invited to the Adidas Grand Prix meet which is scheduled for the Icahn Stadium in Randall Island, New York, on Saturday, June 12.

According to the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) rules, selection to these national junior teams is based on athletes' participation at the National Junior Championships. Athletes who miss the junior trials run the risk of not being selected to represent the country at the various junior meets.

Wolmer's Boys coach Christopher Harley and Holmwood Technical girls' coach Maurice Wilson recently confirmed that they will be competing in New York, but athletes who fall within the age limit will remain at home to seek places on national teams.

"We have accepted the invitation to compete at the Adidas Grand Prix in New York but this will not stop us from entering our top boys at the National Junior Championships. ... We take priority in nationalism and all our top boys will compete in the local meet," Harley said.

Wolmer's were the winners of the 4x400 metres at the Penn Relays this year and their team included Julian Forte, Dwayne Extol and A-Shawni Mitchell, who are expected to mount strong challenges for places on the World Junior team.

top athletes

"The team to New York will include people like Jeffrey Brady and Kevaughn Allen who do not have the age to compete on the junior teams," said Harley.

Holmwood's Wilson, who has been national coach at both the junior and senior levels for many years, said his top athletes will be at the junior trials.

"Our top girls, including Chris Ann Gordon, will compete at the trials," Wilson said. Gordon is the top local junior 400m runner.

Recently, there has been some confusion over the interpretation of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rules surrounding the age eligibility of athletes for the World Junior meets.

According to Rule 141 of the IAAF competition rule book, junior athletes are those who are 18 and 19 on December 31 of the competition year, and for World Youth the ages are 16 and 17. Athletes can compete at the World Junior Champion-ships twice. This is so because an athlete can compete at both the World Youth and World Junior Championships.

Recently, IAAF competition manager Yannis Nikolaou stated that athletes 16-19 are eligible to compete at the World Junior Championships. It means that athletes who were born in the years 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 can compete this year at the World Juniors. Athletes who are 15 years and under are not eligible for any IAAF meet.

The country's top junior athletes, including the likes of Jahzeel Murphy, Odean Skeen, ChrisAnn Gordon, Julian Forte, Shericka Jackson and Chanice Porter, are therefore all eligible for the World Junior Championships.