The ninth staging of the Ben Francis Invitational and the fifth edition of the SW Isaac-Henry Invitational meets will be staged today at Vere Technical High School and the National Stadium, respectively.

The 2011 World 100m champion Yohan Blake is set to make his seasonal debut at the SW Isaac-Henry Invitational in the 400m.

It will be Blake’s first race since switching personal coach inside the Racers Track Club from the celebrated Glen Mills to the emerging Patrick Dawson, who also guides Zharnel Hughes. Blake is scheduled to run in the 400m at noon.

The Stafford Wycliffe Isaac-Henry meet is in honour of the educator extraordinaire and administrator who served 21 years as principal of St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) between 1969 and 1990. He also taught at Kingston College for 20 years. He died in 1990.

The meet is scheduled to start at 8:15 am with the running of the girls’ 1500m Open. The 20-minute opening ceremony is set for 1:45 pm with action on the track resuming with the 200m, followed by the 4x100m relays, and conclude at 5:30 pm with the 4x400m.

Field event action is scheduled to start at 9:00 am with the boys’ long jump, followed by the girls’ shot put and high jumps and conclude with the boys’ javelin open.

Meanwhile, the Grace Ben Francis Invitational Track and Field meet will have five championship events with a winning prize money of $30,000. The championship events are the Class One 100m for girls; 400m Class One boys; 4x100m Class One boys; 4x400m girls’ Open; and the girls’ 2000m Steeplechase.

Olympian and past student Shericka Jackson will be this year’s honoree.

Jackson, 24 won bronze in the 400m at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and was a part of Jamaica’s gold medal 4x400m relay team. She won another 400m bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and silver in the 4x400m relay. A versatile runner, Jackson also took silver in the 200m at the Commonweath Games in 2018 and gold at the NACAC Games.

— Howard Walker