A near capacity crowd sat through a west coast thunderstorm during the early stages of the 22nd Harry Jerome Track Classic in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Once the rain stopped the temperatures dropped seriously hampering all of the competitors.

Canadian Olympian Priscilla Lopes nevertheless, set a meet record in the women’s 100m Hurdles with a time of 12.98 seconds erasing the standard held since 1988 by Julie Rocheleau.

“I felt good coming out here. It was my first race on home soil and it was good to get the win and to get ready for worlds,” Lopes said immediately after the race.

Last weekend, competing for the University of Nebraska, she finished second in the NCAA championships and claimed that fatigue caught up with her tonight.

“It was very busy I was running a lot - two heats on Wednesday and the final on friday,” she explained. “So I had to play catch-up all the way tonight. I was hoping for a personal best. It was good to have competition. I just tried to maintain my form.”

The Harry Jerome Track Classic is traditionally an opportunity for Canadian athletes to chase championship standards with some foreign competitors tossed in to create excitement. Two years ago Canada’s Matt Kerr set a personal best time in the 3000m steeplechase here recording 8:29.94 to qualify for the world championships in Paris. Tonight the poor conditions got the better of him and he missed the World championship B standard by exactly one second with his 8:33.00.

“I led most of the race. We had a rabbit but I took over from 800m so it was good for a solo effort up front. I am improving this season so I am happy with the result,” Kerr revealed. “I should have been able to get the standard but I probably needed a few more  bodies up front. I am in shape to get it. In the next month I can go well under 8:30 and maybe get close to the A standard.”

Lyle Weese of the US also gave a good account of himself closing to within .14 seconds of the Canadian champion. Back in fourth place Alex Genest of Quebec broke the Canadian junior record with a time of 8:37.83.

Sarah Ali-Khan, a McGill University doctoral candidate in Pharmacology, won the women’s 800m in 2:05.06 holding off Sheena Gooding of Barbados all the way down the finishing straight. Her margin of victory was a scant three one hundredths of a second. A year ago she was 2nd in this event in 2:02.21.

The men’s Mile was also a very competitive affair with Chris Mulvaney leading three others under four minutes winning in a time of 3:58.35. The native of Bolton, England was a full tenth of a second clear of Mexico¹s Juan Luis Barrios with Elkenah Engwenyi of Kenya finishing third (3:59.51) and Alejandro Suarez Velazquez (Mexico) fourth in 3:59.81.

The field events suffered most from the cold wet conditions, yet Jesse Roberge of the US was able to produce 19.51m to win the Shot Put competition by more than two metres.

2005 Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic
14 June 2005 - Swangard Stadium, Burnaby B.C. Canada

Men

100m Section A
Anson Henry, Canada, 10.57
Jacey Harper, Trinidad, 10.60
Yaozu Yang, China, 10.67

“B” (tbc)
Babatunde Ridley, USA, 10.4
Neville Wright, Canada, 10.5
Kevin Devine, USA, 10.6

400m
John Steffensen, Unattached- AUS, 46.36
David Neville, USA, 46.78
Jerome Davis, USA, 46.93

800m
Moise Joseph, Haiti, 1:49.13
David Gill, Canada, 1:49.28
John Carle, Canada, Canada, 1:49.32

1500m: ‘A’ (tbc)
Juan Luis Barrios, MEX, 3:44.40
Elkanah Engwenyi, KEN, 3:44.41
Chris Mulvaney, UK, 3:44.63
Reid Coolseat, Canada, 3:45.34
Alejandro Suarez Velazqu, MEX, 3:45.70
Graeme Wells, Canada, 3:46.84
Mark Caroll, Ireland, 3:48.46

‘B’ (tbc)
Corey Duquette, USA, 3:47.95 
Isaias Haro Cruz, Mexico, 3:48.16
Aaron Heidt, Canada, 3:49.38

Mile
Chris Mulvaney, U K-GBR, 3:58.35
Juan Luis Barrios, MEX, 3:58.45
Elkanah Engwenyi, KEN, 3:59.51
Alejandro Suarez Velazqu, MEX, 3:59.81
Reid Coolseat, Canada, 4:01.45
Graeme Wells, Canada, 4:01.82
Mark Caroll, Ireland, 4:03.38
Ryan McKenzie, Canada, 4:03.77
Trevor O’Brien, Canada, 4:04.21
Dan Wilson, USA, 4:05.35
Ian Connor, USA, 4:05.51

3000m Steeplechase
Matt Kerr , Team Canada, 8:33.00
Lyle Weese, USA, 8:33.14
Max King, USA, 8:37.71
Alex Genest, Team Canada, 8:37.83

High Jump
Tora Harris, USA, 2.10m
Kyley Johnson, USA, 2.10m
Jason Boness, USA, 2.05m

Shot Put
Jesse Roberge, USA, 19.51m
Scott Denbo, USA, 17.33m
Nick Garcia, USA, 16.28m

4x100 Relay:
Canada “A”, 40.72
Liberia “A”, 41.31
China “A”, 41.34

4x400m Relay:
1. Canada “A”, 3:05.48
2. Trinidad “A”, 3:06.43
3. Liberia “A”, 3:09.25

Women

100m
Toyin Olupona, Canada, 11.4
Genevieve Thibault, Canada, 11.6
Ayanna Hutchinson, Trynidad, 11.6
Adrienne Power, Canada, 11.7
Erica Broomfield, Canada, 11.7
Halima DeCree, USA, 11.8
Nicole Buchholz, Canada, 11.9

400m
Kaltouma Nadjina, Chad, 51.44
Kia Davis, USA, 52.87
Karen Shinkins, Ireland, 53.66
Tawa Dotch, Team Canada, 54.62
Samantha George, Team Canada, 55.17

800m
Sarah Esme Alikhan, Canada, 2:05.06
Sheena Gooding, Barbados. 2:05.09
Mishael Bertrand, USA, 2:05.48
Aimee Teteris, Team Canada, 2:05.78
Rebecca Johnstone, Team Canada, 2:05.79
Sherron Rhetta, USA, 2:05.88
Sandra Moya, Puerto Rico, 2:05.99

1500m
Hilary Edmanson, Canada, 4:13.18
Sarah Schwald, USA, 4:13.30
Lauren Fleshman, USA, 4:14.73
Sineas Delahunty- Evans, Ireland, 4:16.54
Amanda Chase, USA, 4:17.27
Julia Howard, Canada, 4:17.30
Heather Hennigar, Canada, 4:18.19
Lisa Labrecque, Canada, 4:19.28
Nanae Kuwashiro, JPN, 4:19.87

100m Hurdles
Priscilla Lopes, Canada, 12.98
Antoinette Wilks, JAM, 13.02
Angela Whyte, Canada, 13.38
Rong Zhang, China, 13.70
Hyleas Fountain, USA, 14.05
Christine Spence, USA, 14.36
Andrea Vinet, Canada, 14.37
Corri Fell, Canada, 14.69

Pole Vault
Shuing Gao, China, 4.41m
Kelsie Hendry, Canada, 4.10m
Yingying Zhao, China, 4.00m
Kate Soma, USA, 4.00m

4x100 Relay:
Canada “A”, 44.51
Saskatchewan “A”, 46.34
B.C. “A”, 48.56

4x400m Relay
Canada “A”, 3:38.63
Trinidad “A”, 3:44.71
BC Team “A”, 3:45.79
BC Team “B”, 4:00.20