DESPITE heavy head winds, Jamaica’s junior athletes put on a great show over the two day JAAA Supreme Ventures National Junior Championships which ended inside the National Stadium on Sunday, June 12th.  The athletes were at their best as they tried to book their places on the teams for the World Youth Games, to be held in Lille,  France,  and the Junior Pan Am Championships which will be held in Miaramar, Florida.

The Junior Championships produced one triple winner in Edwin Allen High’s thrower Daniel Thomas while there were a multitude of double winners, led by Green Island High’s Odail Todd.

Thomas was perfect at the Meet as her three wins came in the Under 20 Discus, Javelin and Shot Put. In the Discus event she had a throw of 48.30 metres to turn back her team-mate Sasha Gaye Marston who was second with 45.08 metres.  Her second win came in the Javelin throw with 40.21 metres, then she closed her triple by taking the Shot put with 13.0 metres to turn back St. Jago High’s Kellion Knibb who was second with 12.57 metres.

Green Island High’s, Todd had an impressive double sprint win in the  Boy's Under 18 age group. On Saturday ,opening day, Todd got his first win as he got the better of World Youth Olympic 100 metres champion, Odean Skeen of Wolmer's Boys', winning the 100 metres in 10.81 seconds while competing in a negative wind of 4.5 metres per second. On the final day of competition, Todd got the better of Skeen once again as after a keen tussle with Skeen for the majority of the way in the 200 metres, Todd prevailed in the end to win in 21.26 seconds – Skeen’s second place time was 21.31 seconds.

Kingston College’s Rojeek Rochester was the other double winner among the boys as he won the Under 20 - 800 metres in 1:54.84 and the 1500 metres in 4:07.81.  In the 800 metres he got the better of Holmwood Technical’s Andre Hosey (1:55.85), while in the 1500 metres it was Oraine Wint of Bellefield High who was second in 4:08.97.

Two Holmwood Technical athletes in Janeive Russell and Glenive Grange also had double wins. Grange took the Girl's Under 18 Discus throw with a distance of 41.84 metres and the Shot put with 12.21 metres. Russell won the Under 20 long jump with 6.19 metres in a wind aided 3.17 metres per second  with her other win coming in the 200 metres where running out of lane eight she surprised Racers Celia Walters to win the event in 24.26 seconds.  Walters clocked 24.44 seconds for the runner's up spot.

It was also a double win for Manchester High’s Chanice Porter in the Under 18 category. Porter, who represented the country last year at the World Junior Championships was victorious in the high jump after clearing the bar at 1.90 metres, the same height done by Convent of Mercy, Alpha Kristen Taylor. Her other win came in the long jump where she had a leap of 6.35 metres.

The Junior Championships also saw two athletes posting personal bests on the final day on the track and in the field. On the track, Carifta Under 20 800 metres champion, Simoya Campbell out of Spaulding High had a big improvement in the two lap event. Competing in the Girl's Under 18 800 metres she improved on her previous best of 2:07.60 to win the event in 2:05.37 and in the process moved her up from 10th to fifth on the World Youth IAAF top list in the event.

St. Elizabeth Technical’s Peter Gaye Reid turned the tables on National Junior high jump record holder, Kimberly Williamson in the Under 20 high jump as Reid had a clearance of 1.85 metres for the win over the second placed Williamson of Edwin Allen who cleared the bar at 1.80 metres.

There were some exciting finishes on the track on the final day of competition.  It all started with the first final of the day as the Chrisdale McCarthy/Megan Simmonds rivalry continued in the Girl's Under 18 100 metres hurdles where both athletes are ranked two and three on the World Youth list. However, despite her quick start, Simmonds out of St. Andrew High failed to hold off the fast finishing McCarthy as the St. Jago High school athlete took the win in 13.95 seconds as Simmonds was second in 14.05 seconds as the athletes ran in a minus wind of 3.0 metres per second.

In the Under 20 event, former Queen's High athlete, Danielle Williams who has just completed her first season at Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina, was first in the event in 13.90 seconds as St. Jago High’s Tonique Sobah was second in 14.12 seconds.  Here it was a negative 1.4 metres per second wind speed.

Manchester High’s Omar McLeod clocked 14.04 seconds in a  head wind of 2.7 metres per second to win the Under 18 110 metres hurdles, ahead of   Jamaica College’s Tyler Mason in 14.07 seconds.

There was a major upset in the Boy's Under 20 event as Wolmer's Boys' Yanick Hart clocked 14.28 seconds to win from the Kingston College pair of D'Omar Bryden (14.28) and Stefan Fennell (14.81) as Fennell was losing for the first time this season.

Holmwood Technical’s ChrisAnn Gordon avenged her Carifta Games Under 20 400 metres defeat by Vere Technical Olivia James. This time Gordon made no mistake in the Under 18 event as she won in 52.65 seconds to get the better of James who was second in 53.30 seconds. 

Complete results are now available.

Contributed by Raymond Graham