Champs 2022 | Manchester’s Palmer could throw a wrench in the spokes

IT’S A fair guess that the class 1 400 metres at this week’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships will come down to a duel between Gregory Prince of St Jago, the Central Championships winner, and Delano Kennedy of Edwin Allen High School, who won the Carifta Trials.

Both are through to tomorrow’s semi-finals; however, Manchester High School head coach Dwayne Jarrett reckons that his charge, Shemar Palmer, could be a factor.

Palmer won his heat and is also through to the semi-finals, qualifying with the third quickest time.

On the day before the high school track and field showcase, Jarrett reported that Palmer was in super shape.

Palmer, a sixth-form transfer from Mile Gully High, placed second to Kennedy at the Carifta Trials with a personal best 47.29 seconds and closed Central Championships with a decisive 4x400 split time of 47.2.

“He’s well rested,” Jarrett reported.

“In training, looking really, really good, super shape, so it’s just for him to go out there now and execute, and as long as he executes the race the way he should, based on what we discussed, then I’m expecting him to go very fast.”

Prince, Kennedy and KC’s Shaemar Uter have all broken 47 seconds this season, and Jarrett thinks Palmer could join them in that speed zone this week.

“I think basically he’s in shape to run sub-47. Had he executed the race the correct way at Carifta (Trials), he would have run sub-47 and then he’s running a faster 200. He was basically running 22s. Now he’s down to 21.3, so the faster we can go at the 200, then I think the better it can do for him at the 400,” said the veteran coach with reference to Palmer’s new 200-metre best of 21.37 seconds.

“He was second at the Carifta Trials, got named to the Carifta team, which is a plus, and he ran the first 250 a little bit too hard and so when he got into the straight basically, he was under pressure,” said Jarrett.

ANY PRESSURE

“And I kinda expected that because all season, he has not been running under any pressure. He has been winning comfortably so that was the first time he came under pressure and actually, I saw what he’s made of and I saw how he responded.”

Coach and athlete have refined Palmer’s race plan in training since the Trials.

Born on Valentine’s Day in 2003, Palmer reached the 400-metre semi-finals last year.

“He was at Mile Gully, but I must say I didn’t take him from Mile Gully but he was with the Manchester programme working with us last year, but he just was representing Mile Gully.”

Jarrett is grateful for the progress Palmer has made.

“He started running 51, ended up running 48 last year, and each time he touches the track, he’s just giving us some stellar times. He’s now down to 47.2 and he’s running 21.3, so it’s his last year in school and it’s a good way to draw the attention of coaches to himself, which I think he has done so far,” he itemised.

Prince clocked 46.31 seconds to win at Central Championships, ahead of Kennedy, and Uter was eighth in last year’s final.

“We’re going up against the big mighty, in terms of the boys, we’re going up against the Calabars and the JCs and the KCs and the St Jagos and Edwin Allen has one who is also looking very well,” Jarrett said, acknowledging the quality Kennedy has shown.

“So we are just going out to try to be a spoiler.”

Prince, Kennedy, Uter and Palmer all won their first-round races yesterday.

Prince sailed through his race with the fastest time, 46.62 seconds. Kennedy, Uter and Palmer clocked 48.88, 48.70 and 48.14 seconds, respectively.

The semi-finals will be run at 11:15 a.m.

It hasn’t been decided whether Palmer will also run the class one 200 metres.