Ramone McKenzie at the Jamaican High School Champs (© Anthony Foster)
Ramone McKenzie, 16, of boys champions Calabar High and Manchester High's Shawna-Gaye Tracey, 16, sharpened up for this summer's 5th IAAF World Youth Championships* in Ostrava, Czech Republic (11 - 15 July 2007), with impressive performances at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Jamaican High School Track & Field Championships, which ended at National Stadium on Saturday (31 March).
Junior records
Two national junior records were broken, 17-year-old Kerion Stewart of Kingston College (KC), who was a member of Jamaica's last World Junior and World Youth teams, ran 13.53 seconds to break his own 110m Hurdles record of 13.60 set in the heats, while Holmwood's Taneisha Blair threw the javelin 47.85m, also to break her old record of 47.69m, which gave her gold at the CAC Junior in 2006.
Ostrava candidates
The 16-year-old Ramone McKenzie, who won the 200m in 20.89 seconds ahead of Herbert Morrison's Dexter Lee ( 21.28), another 16-year-old contender for medal at the World Youth, took the 400m title in 47.24, both Championships records.
McKenzie's performance was the backbone of his team's victory, which saw them scoring 273.5 points ahead of dethroned champions Kingston College (200), Jamaica College (161), Wolmer's (137.5) and St. Jago (120).
After the Championships, McKenzie said: "I gave it my all. "It feels good because those (records) were my aim for the Championships," he said.
Shawna-Gaye Tracey, 16, won the Class Two (Under-17) girls’ 400m in 53.33 and the 400m Hurdles Open in 57.90, both personal best, but her team, Manchester, which produced last year's fastest woman in the world, Sherone Simpson, finished third with 226.5 points ahead Holmwood (353.5) and Vere (232), the former school of Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell and Merlene Ottey.
Latoya McDermott of St. Andrew (53.48), 16, and Deneisha Morris of Manchester (54.18), 15, both eligible by age for the World Youths, were second and third respectively behind Tracey, who was a part of Jamaica's bronze medal 4x400m at last year's World Junior.
St. Jago's Samantha Woodburn, who is also in with a chance of making the World Youth team, won the girls' Class Three (Under-16) 400m in 55.98.
Sprint doubles
Danielle Jeffery of Immaculate and Herbert Morrison High's Antonique Campbell, along with St. Jago's Yohan Blake, the World Junior 100m bronze medallist, copped sprint doubles. The latter is too old for Ostrava selection.
Blake, however, was the most impressive, winning the Class One (Under-20) boys event in a record 10.21 seconds, beating the four-year-old mark of 10.24 held by Tesfa Latty. He returned 20.62 for the 200m victory.
Blake said he could have gone faster. "It was so hard, because I did not get any push, if I had gotten push I would have run faster," he said.
Jeffery, who celebrated her 17th birthday four weeks ago, won the Class Two 100m in 11.64 and the 200m in 23.65 while Campbell took the Class Three (Under-16) girls' 200m in 24.14 and the 100m (11.89).
Jeffery was very pleased with her achievements. "I am satisfied with the times," she said, while predicting faster times by July's World Youth.
In the senior girls' half lap event, 2006 World Junior 200m finalist Anastasia Leroy, now 19, who finished a close second behind 2005 World Youth 100m bronze medallist Schillonie Calvert in the 100m, returned a personal best 23.12 for victory. Calvert, who won the 100m in 11.38 ahead of Le-Roy (11.42), was second in the 200m in 23.49.
Le-Roy, shed tears of joy after the race, and said: "I feel good ... coming into the stretch I said to myself that I have to take this gold ... I am so happy, she said of her first title."
Distance doubles too
Jamaica's top junior distance runners, Natoya Goule of Manchester High and Kemoy Campbell of Bellefield, both 16 years old, were also double winners.
Campbell broke his own Championships of 4:01.06, achieved in the heats, by running unchallenged to cross the finish line in 3:58.06 seconds for the boys' Class Two 1500m title. He later took the 5000m in 15:12.20 seconds.
Goule, who has been dominating the distances for the past three years, won the 1500m in 4:33.26 ahead of Edwin Allen's Mackola Joseph (4: 33.47) and the 3000m in 10:19.46 ahead of Holmwood's 13-year-old Petrine Plummer (10:19.86).
In the sprint hurdles, St. Jago's World Youth silver medallist Natasha Ruddock took the girls' Class One event in 14.02 but it is Shermaine Williams of Alpha, who won the Class Two event in 13.81 that will be expected to carry Jamaica's flag in Ostrava.
Lanice Hall of Vere won the Class Three 80m Hurdles in 11.58, and the fact that she will be running the 300m hurdles at CARIFTA Games, she could join Tracey over the one lap obstacle in Ostrava.
Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, a member of Jamaica's team at last year's World Junior, also won two events, the Class One girls' 400m in 52.14 ahead of Vere's Kayann Robinson (54.80) and the 800m in 2:11.98.
St. Jago's Riker Hylton, who lost out on the 400m Hurdles Open on Friday, took the boys' 400m in 46.28 seconds ahead of Calabar's Garfield German ( 46.63).
In the field, Misha-Gaye DaCosta of Immaculate (1.80m) won the girls' Class Two High Jump, while Ramone Berch of JC produced 15.92m to add the boys' Class One Shot Put to his Discus title, which he won with 48.78m.
Meanwhile, World Junior 100m bronze medallist Carrie Russell was unable to finish the Championships due to a hamstring injury. She pulled up during the sprint relay heats on Wednesday, but returned on the following the 200m and caused more damage to herself.
Anthony Foster for IAAF
Full results - http://www.issa.org.jm/champs07/
NOTE. Not all athletes mentioned above are eligible by age for the World Youths in Ostrava -Age Categories – Only athletes aged 15, 16 or 17 on 31 December in the year of the competition (e.g. for the 2007 Championships, born in 1990, 1991 or 1992) may compete.
Full qualification standards can be found on the following page –
http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/standards/xml=ostrava_2007/index.html
