Daley overcomes unclean start to progress to 100m semi-finals
Published:Wednesday | April 6, 2022 | 12:13 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
THE ONLY surprise from the Class One boys’ 100m first round was the unclean start that saw the first heat being pushed back.
But the mishap did not deter the likes of Herbert Morrison Technical High’s DeAndre Daley, who ensured he wouldn’t let the distractions stop him from contending for a medal among the favourites for the Class One 100m title
Daley joined Nkrumie Bouwahjgie and Edwin Allen’s Bryan Levell to set up a major showdown in the boys’ Class One event as day one of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletic Championships began at the National Stadium yesterday. While Daley did win his heat in 11.00 seconds, it was in perplexing circumstances as the race had to be pushed back to the final heat as an unclean start saw Watts call back the athletes but only a couple heard the initial gun. Some of the athletes had already crossed the finished line before they heard the third gun
Daley admitted that the circumstances surrounding the restart were strange but said he was still resolute.
“It definitely unsettled everybody. But I knew that I trained hard, so I couldn’t make a little mishap with the start throw off my whole race,” Daley told The Gleaner. Daley is the number-one ranked Class One athlete having the fastest time entering Champs with 10.30 seconds last month at the Carifta Trials.
It was Bouwahjgie, however, who threw down the gauntlet with the fastest time of the qualifiers, winning his heat in 10.53. The man with the nickname ‘Dr Speed’ said it was the race that he prescribed for himself, as he prepares to do battle among the top three sprinters this season.
“I felt comfortable. I did what my coach taught me. I just executed and kept calm,” Bouwahjgie said.
His teammate Jeevan Newby had the second-fastest time in qualifying with 10.55, while Ricquan Graham of Wolmer’s Boys’ School had the third-fastest time with 10.58. Levell, ranked second among the Class One boys, won his heat in 10.73 seconds, the fifth-fastest among the field, but looked most impressive among the lot.
FASTEST TIME
Meanwhile, in the 400m, Jamaica College’s Samuel Creary is through to the Class Three semi-finals, running the fastest time in heat three with 52.00 seconds.
Kingston College’s Marcinho Rose won his Class Two heat with 49.97 to qualify comfortably for the semi-finals.
In Class One, St Jago High’s Gregory Prince put the pedal to the metal, his qualifying time of 46.62 by the far and away the quickest time. Trials 400m winner Delano Kennedy from Edwin Allen also qualified comfortably to advance to the semi-finals in 48.88, the sixth-fastest time among the semi-finalists.
In other events, St Jago’s Balvin Israel qualified easily for the Class Two long jump final with a distance of 7.02 metres, well above the qualifying mark of 6.70. Kingston College’s Nahashon Ruto qualified for the next round of the Class Three 1500m with a blistering 4:14:16 minutes, two seconds off the Champs record of 4:12.50.