ISSA has contingency plans in place for Champs schedule
THE Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) has put contingency plans in place for the final day of the Issa/gracekennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Championships in case the weekend curfews are still in place for the May 11-15 edition of the event at the National Stadium in Kingston.
The newly reconfigured meet schedule was released on Monday during a virtual meeting with coaches and had a day 5A which will be used in case persons have to be off the road at a certain time.
Competitions Director Anthony Davis explained that they hoped there would be no need for the alternative schedule but the organising committee had put it in just in case.
The schedule calls for the first three days of Champs to start at 9:00 am with the final event set to start at 5:45 pm. Friday’s fourth day will end at 4:55 pm while Saturday’s action will kick off at 12:00 noon and end at 5:25 pm.
However, if the curfew is still in place, competition will start four hours earlier at 8:00 am and end at 1:20 pm.
Meanwhile, Davis also outlined the qualifying system for Champs with athletes only being able to make the required standards at the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Qualifying Trials series and at the our regional championships.
For the sprints — 100m, 200m and 400m — the top two in each class at the regional championships will be automatic qualifiers with the next best 24 on times qualifying.
The top 24 islandwide in the 800m in each class will qualify with the top 15 in the longer distances and the steeplechase also making the grade. In the field events — the throws and the jumps — the top 12 will be allowed to compete at Champs as well as the top 16 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams and 12 in the medley relays and the multi events — the heptathlon and decathlon.
Each team is allowed a maximum of two athletes per event, Davis pointed noted, “only if both are ranked according to the guidelines which we have now adopted for 2021”, and he went on to explain that schools with more than two will not be able exceed the quota.
“Schools having more than two athletes ranked (in any event) will not be given the extra spot,” he declared. “So, in short, if you have three athletes ranked, you are still restricted to just two athletes participating. If you scratch or for whatever reason the athlete cannot compete, the school is not allowed an automatic placement, the replacement must come from those in the ranked system,” he said. “For example, if the limit is 32 and you lose a spot then we will invite the next person in line to move up to join them.”