J’can school sprinters descend on East Coast International Showcase
BALTIMORE, Maryland – National junior 100 metres record holder Alana Reid and outstanding Kingston College sprinter Adrian Kerr are among Jamaica’s top junior sprinters who are down to participate in this weekend’s East Coast International Showcase at the Prince George Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Baltimore, Maryland.
Reid, who is the reigning Carifta Games 100m champion, shattered the girls’ Class One 100m record at the recent ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships with a massive time of 10.92 seconds in the final.
The outstanding Hydel High athlete then led her school to victory in the Championships of America 4x100m relays at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennslyvania, last weekend. Alexis James from Petersfield, Rickann Russell from Holmwood and Oneika McAnuff from Hydel are among the other Jamaicans who will be on show at the meet.
Kerr and Bryan Levell will be making their return at the meet after they both missed this year’s Champs due to injury.
St Elizabeth Technical’s Jasauna Dennis, the reigning Carifta Games 400m champion, and Edwin Allen’s Delano Kennedy are among Jamaica’s top junior sprinters who are down to compete at the meet as well.
The Jamaicans are set to match strides with the outstanding British Virgin Islands sprinter Adaejah Hodge, who has run 11.00 seconds flat this season, along with American rising star Issamade Asinga, who has run 10.10 this season. The 18-year-old Asinga also ran 19.97 seconds in the 200m last month.
Olympian Sanjay Ayre, the chief organiser of the meet, said the event will expose the country’s junior athletes to top high school competition in the USA.
“I am feeling very good about this weekend and I am excited,” said Ayre. “The athletes came into camp on Sunday and some athletes are flying in from Jamaica on Wednesday (today), but most of the athletes are already here and they have settled and they have acclimatised and they have been training and they are ready to go.
“They are very excited for this opportunity because one of the concepts that we wanted to come up with, myself and Julilett Campbell, is to make sure that we provide high-level international competition for the kids,” Ayre said.
Ayre added that he is expecting much better weather conditions this year compared to last year when it was very cold and wet.
“The venue is in place and the weather is going to be fantastic this weekend and it is going to be better weather than the Penn Relays, where it was cold and raining, and so we just want the fans to come out and have a good time,” he said.