Smikle leads solid displays at STETHS
CALABAR High’s IAAF World Youth Championships bronze medallist Traves Smikle, Manchester High School high jumper Chanice Porter and Edwin Allen’s Sasha Gay Marston produced outstanding performances in the field events at last weekend’s GraceKennedy STETHS Invitational Meet in Santa Cruz.
Smikle, who won Jamaica’s firs- ever throwing medal at a global meet, Marston and Vere Technical’s Vanessa Levy, all had good distances in the discus, while Porter outclassed a quality field in the Class 2 high jump.
Levy, the upset discus winner in Class 1 at Girls’ Champs last year while competing for Edwin Allen, was a double winner as she took the Girls’ Open shot put in 13.17m after winning the discus with a best throw of 37.29m.
Smikle, who has already surpassed the qualifying mark for this year’s IAAF World Junior Championships to be held in Moncton, Canada, beat teammate Chad Wright after throwing 56.37m to win the Boys’ Class 1 event.
Wright, who led after the first two rounds of the final, had a best throw of 54.68m.
Munro College’s Class 2 thrower Jevaughn Shaw was also impressive, winning his section with a personal best 47.72m.
Marston easily won the Girls’ Class 2 discus with a throw of 43.14m, but is still shy of the automatic qualifying mark of 47.50m for the WJC.
The Class 2 high jumpers were also in good form as Porter, who was a victim of the new IAAF minimum age rule that kept her out of the team to the WYC last year, won the event, beating Edwin Allen’s Kimberly Williamson and St Elizabeth Technical’s Peter-Gay Reid — both of whom represented Jamaica at the meet.
Porter won with 1.80m, while Williamson and Reid, who were second and third, respectively, cleared 1.75m.
Wolmer’s Boys’ Jason Lewis won the boys’ event with 1.90m, the same height that Class 1 winner Demar Woods of Herbert Morrison cleared.
Two STETHS girls had good results in the long jump. WYC fourth-place finisher Rochelle Reid won the Class 2 event with 5.91m, while Opal James won the Class 3 event in 5.71m.
There were some creditable results on the track, led by Munro College’s Class 2 sprinter Delano Williams, who won the 200m in a smart 22.08 seconds, the best time of the day, including the Clubs/Institutions men.
Vere Technical’s Shericka Jackson won the Girls Class 2 200m in 24.65 seconds, winning her heat by a wide margin, while Herbert Morrison’s Keja Christie was second in 25.20.
Satima Chambers, also of Vere, took the Class 3 event in 25.46, followed by Holmwood Technical’s Yanique Thompson (25.46) and Sashalee Forbes (25.7).