Epic battle for girls' title

Raymond Graham, Gleaner Writer

TRACK and field fans will get a small preview of what could happen at next month's Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships, as five of the country's top female high school teams will lock horns at G.C. Foster College over the next two days, as the Milo Central Athletics Championships will start this morning at 9:30.

Edwin Allen's Michael Dyke says he will not field his strongest outfit.

"This meet is important, but we will not be taking many chances as we will be resting several of our top athletes. But at the same time, we will be using the meet to help fix our relay teams," said Dyke, head coach of Edwin Allen, who won their first Central Championships title last year.

The meet which will see some 11 field events and 21 track events finals today. There will also be two new events.

"We have included the 2000 metres Steeplechase Open for boys and girls, along with the javelin Open for boys, as this will be new at Champs this year, and this will be a good opportunity for athletes to compete here," said Maurice Wilson, the meet director.

Changes to the programme

Wilson, who is also the head coach of Holmwood, spoke about two other changes to the programme.

"We have several athletes who will be doing the 400 and 800 metres double, and because of this we have scheduled both events for separate days so that we can get the best out of these athletes; and also, there will be only one round in the 4x400 metres Open relay as instead of running heats and final it will now be timed finals," said Wilson.

Following an outstanding performance at the Wata Jamaica College meet last month where she had track experts buzzing with excitement, Edwin Allen's Class Two athlete Christiana Williams, who will not compete at Champs this year following her transfer from Oracabessa High last September, will get a chance to parade her exceptional talent once again.

JC meet

Williams, who clocked a fast 11.3 seconds at the JC meet in the 100 metres, will compete in that event and the 200 metres.

In the 200 metres she will face the outstanding Shericka Jackson of Vere Technical, the World Youth Olympic finalist, who has been very impressive in the event so far this season.

While several of the country's top national junior athletes, including Jackson, her teammate Deandra Whitehorne, Manchester High's Chanice Porter, the Holmwood Technical duo of Chrisann Gordon and Janieve Russell, and Edwin Allen's Ristananna Tracey will be on show in individual events, the 4x400 metres will take centre stage at the meet.

The top three teams - Edwin Allen, Holmwood and Vere - have all clocked excellent times so far this season at various meets without running their best teams, and coaches will want the opportunity to test out their teams and score a psychological advantage, as a humdinger is expected.

While an epic battle is expected for the girls' title, this will not be the case among the boys as the Danny Hawthorne-coached St Jago, the defending champions, are expected to turn back the challenges of Holmwood, Manchester and Edwin Allen to take their third title in a row.

"We will be taking things quite easy as our team has shown great improvement in the past couple weeks, and we will be using the opportunity to work on certain factors, especially those in the technical areas," said Hawthorne, who has produced the likes of sprinting sensation Yohan Blake, Nickel Ashmeade and Riker Hylton.

TODAY'S FINALS

Field Events

9:50 a.m.

Shot put girls Open

High jump Class Three boys

Long jump Class Two boy's

Javelin boys Open

11:25 a.m.

Long jump Classes Three & Four girls

12:30 p.m.

High jump Class Two boys

2:00 p.m.

Triple jump Open boys

High jump Class Three girls

3:10 p.m.

Discus Classes One & Two boys

Long jump Class One girls

Track Events

10:30 a.m.

400m hurdles Open girls

10:40 a.m.

400m hurdles Open boys

2:00 p.m.

100m Classes Four, Three, Two and One girls

2:20 p.m.

100m Classes Three, Two and One boys

2:35 p.m.

400m Classes Three, Two and One girls

2:50 p.m.

400m Cl.asses Three, Two and One boys

3:10 p.m.

1500m Classes Three, Two and One girls

3:40 p.m.

1500m Classes Three, Two and One boys