Meet director happy with 40th STETHS Invitational
SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Organisers of the 40th staging of the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS)/Ollivierre/Smith Invitational Meet at the STETHS Sports Complex on Saturday were pleased with the many outstanding performances and the quality of the competition.
Among the top performers were newly-minted girls national junior record holder Marla-Kay Lampart of Clarendon College went over 13.01m in the Class 1 shot put. Munro College’s Romario Hines won the Class 1 100m in 10.84 seconds, while Bellefield High’s Roquelme Johnson ran 4:12.75 minutes to win the Class 1 boys’ 1,500m.
Neil Harrison, meet director for the event renamed in honour of former outstanding track and field coaches Mike Ollivierre and Eldemire Smith, said he was pleased with the contribution of the various stakeholders.
“The support was tremendous and I have to thank the members of the organising committee, I think they have done a tremendous job and even the support of the school was fantastic,” Harrison told the Jamaica Observer as the final events were being lined up on the track.
“We don’t have [an all-weather running surface], it’s a grass track but the fact that we are the bread basket of Jamaica, even the grass is good,” he quipped. “We just want to say thanks to everyone who showed up, it’s a wonderful meet, we started pretty much on time and we are going to end pretty much on time so you can’t ask for anything else.”
Harrison, who has been head track and field coach at Munro College and Jamaica College before moving to St Elizabeth Technical last year, said there were a few results that caught his eyes.
“Munro College’s Romario Hines looked really good and we had some other fantastic performances from Edwin Allen as usual, William Knibb Memorial looked good in some parts, and yes, there were a few things that caught my eyes from different areas. So in general I think it was a good meet and I’m pleased the way things went.”
Hines, who represented Jamaica at the World Under-20 Championships in Lima, Peru, last August, easily won his section of the Class 1 100m. Lacovia High’s Rosean Smith was second in 10.99 and Edwin Allen’s Kenrick Austin was third in 11.04.
Austin took the 200m Open in 21.86, followed by William Knibb Memorial’s Sanjay Seymore (21.95) with Daniel Francis (21.97) of Alphansus Davis High finishing third.
Another national junior representative, Sabrina Dockery of Lacovia High, defended her 200m Open title, winning in 24.14, with Rihana Allen of STETHS second in 24.85 and Shanika Lindsay of Alphansus Davis third in 24.92.
Bellefield High’s Johnson impressed in the boys’ Class 1 1,500m, with Omar Campbell of BB Coke High finishing second in 4:13.22 and Jadau Burke of Bethlehem Moravian College third in 4:25.39.
Lampart, who threw 15.98m a week earlier, won the Girls’ Class 1 shot put with 13.01m coming on her first attempt, comfortably ahead of Edwin Allen High’s Dionjah Shaw (12.09m) and Clarendon College’s Jamelia Young (11.00m).
Lampart placed second in the discus throw with 45.06m, behind Edwin Allen’s Shamoyea Morris (49.99m). Morris’s twin sister Shamoye placed third with 45.11m.
Munro College dominated the boys throwing events as Rajeem Streete threw 54.43m to win the Class 1 discus. He finished ahead of Cleon Sewell (49.16m) of Clarendon College and Munro’s Devonte Edwards (49.09m).
Edwards won the shot put with 17.66m, beating defending champion Mar-Lando Farquharson of Cornwall College who threw 16.46m in the final round to get past Javontae Smith of Munro who threw 16.10m.
Smith won the Class 2 discus and shot put double, while Cornwall College’s Junior Wright was second in the discus throw and won the javelin Open.
Rickoy Hunter of STETHS won the Class 1 boys long jump with 7.35m, beating Petersfield High’s Svein Lawrence (7.13m) and Kingston College’s Anthony Hall (6.50m).
Edwin Allen’s Deijanae Bruce won the Class 1 girls’ long jump with 5.90m, just ahead of STETHS’ Chloe Palmer (5.70m) with Akayla Brown of Edwin Allen third with 5.57m.
— Paul A Reid