AFTER Thursday’s ‘heat’ there was some cooling down on Saturday - the penultimate day of the JAAA Supreme Ventures Senior National Championships - as athletes in the semi-final rounds jostled for final spots in both the men' s and women's 200 and 400 metres events.    One of the finals on Saturday which got the crowd going was the women's 800 metres where world number two Kenia Sinclair continued her dominance in the event, winning her umpteenth title.

 Sinclair, who is in top form this season, did not have things her own way as the talented Natoya Goule showed immense strength in the 800 metres, having competed in a tough 400 metres semi-final less than 30 minutes earlier. As usual Sinclair went to the front and looked an easy winner, but she must have had quite a surprise when Goule made a big "kick" with some eighty metres to go and with the crowd spurring her on she reduced the deficit between herself and Sinclair significantly.  Sinclair held on to win the national title in 2:00.96 as Goule produced a personal best of 2:01.45 for second place and Clora Williams, who has switched to the 800 metres event this year, finished third in 2:04.20.  Goule narrowly missed the ‘B’ entry standard of 2:01.30 for the Daegu World Championships. 

In the Men's event it was likewise another national title for Aldwyn Sappleton as after controlling the race from the start he held off the late burst from Ricardo Cunningham to take the event in 1:49.07.  Cunningham placed second in a time of 1:49.19 and Eric Ramsay ended up third in 1:49.72. 

Korene Hinds and Okley Coke of the University of West Indies were crowned female and male 3000 metres steeplechase champions. Hinds and Mardrea Hyman, who have both represented the country in the event at the highest level, were at it once again at a National Championships. Hinds led from start to finish, pulling further and further away in the latter stage to score an impressive win in a World Championships Qualifying "A" standard of 9:41.67.  Hyman’s second place time was 9:46.15.  Okley captured his first national title when, in a two man race, he got the better of Ivin Johnson to win the event in 10:57.37 with Johnson’s second place time being 11:45.45. 

There were several field events finals taking place on Saturday night with Calabar High school thrower, Traves Smikle pulling off a major upset in the men's Discus.  Smikle, who has been having a great season so far, tuned up for the Junior Pan Am Championships in Florida next month by defeating his seniors to take the event with a throw of 59.83 metres.  Favourite Jason Morgan had to settle for second with 58.71 metres and Smikle’s former teammate at Calabar, Chad Wright, was third with a throw of 55.44 metres. 

Still on the field, former Kingston College jumper Tarik Batchelor captured the men's long jump with a leap of 8.17 metres in a positive wind reading of 2.1 metres per second.  His NCAA rivals, Julian Reid (8.08m) and Nicholas Gordon (7.92m) were second and third respectively. 

In High jump action, it was a win for Darrell Garwood who cleared the bar at 2.10 metres to get the better of the University of Technology’s Jhaun Bryan and St. Georges College’s Kemarki Absalom who were joint second clearing 2.00 metres. 

Following semi-final action in the 200 and 400 metres on Saturday night, more thrills are expected in the Championship’s final day as things are expected to get ‘hot’ once again and some epic battles are expected all around.  Consequent to her victory in the women's 100 metres on Friday, Veronica Campbell-Brown is well set to become the first double winner of the Championships.  Despite being the second fastest qualifier for the final of the women's 200 metres, Campbell-Brown had little difficulty in winning her semi-final in 22.79 seconds, ahead of Aneisha McLauglin of MVP who was second in 23.01 seconds. In semi-final two, which was much more competitive, Kerron Stewart (22.78) got the better of Sherone Simpson.  Simpson, running out of lane one, clocked 22.88 seconds as Jura Levy, who was third, also went under 23 seconds clocking 22.98 seconds. 

Subsequent to his disappointment in the 100 metres, where he was third, Steve Mullings is on a mission to take the men's 200 metres.  Competing in semi-final one of the men's event, he breezed his way to an impressive 20.25 seconds to beat Mario Forsythe into a 20.40 second position.  In semi-final two action Mullings’ training partner, Nickel Ashmeade, was also convincing as he stopped the clock at 20.41seconds.   Marvin Anderson ran on very strongly at the end, just grabbing second in 20.59 seconds. 

Similar to the 200 metres, come Sunday, the 400 metres will be extremely competitive as some close finishes are expected in both the male and female events.  A battle royal is looming among Rosemarie Whyte, Novlene Williams-Mills, Shericka Williams and Kaliese Spencer. Spencer, is also searching for a double at the meet following her success in the women's 400 metres hurdles.  She goes into Sunday’s final as the fastest qualifier, having won the first semi-final in 50.71 seconds while her training partner at MVP, Williams (51.07), was second.  Davita Prendegast (51.40) and Natoya Goule (52.55) booked their spots in the finals by finishing third and fourth respectively.    In semi-final two, where there was a clash of former national champions, it was a cool and easy looking Whyte (50.85) who got the better of Williams-Mills (50.97).  Joining them in the final on Sunday will be Patricia Hall (51.76) and Shereeefa Lloyd (52.06) who were third and fourth respectively. 

An equally close battle is expected in the men's 400 metres where picking the winner could be difficult, despite the presence in the field of the country’s number one man this season, Jermaine Gonzales.  Former national champion, Lansford Spence was the fastest on Saturday night as he won his semi-final in 45.51 with room to spare.  Following Spence in the race to the final were Leford Green (45.61), defending champion Oral Thompson (45.65) and Allodin Fotthergill (45.91).  In a bang up finish, Riker Hylton led the way in the second semi-final, producing a winning 45.58 seconds.  DeWayne Barrett (45.63), Gonzales (45.67) and Dwight Mullings (45.87) took the other places in that semi-final. 

Contributed by Raymond Graham
Photo courtesy of Anthony Foster

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