Powell carrying the f lag for Edwin Allen boys
EDWIN ALLEN’S male team has certainly struggled to come close to the exploits of their female counterparts at the ISSA-GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships. While the girls romped to a third straight title last year, the boys from Frankfield managed just 12 points in their competition at last year’s championships and have generally laboured to tally points at Champs over the years.
Up to today’s final day, the ladies from Clarendon have lit up the championships with medals and record-breaking performances, while the boys have struggled to make an impact, with their best finish to date coming in the shot put final, where Anthony Symile placed fifth with a throw of 14.42m
However, Edwin Allen boast one real medal candidate i n Class Two 400m star, Jevaughn Powell, who ran the second-fastest semi-final time of 48.74 seconds, which was only bettered by Calabar’s Evaldo Whitehorn (48.45).
Powell, who won his semi-final comfortably, is heading into today’s medal round confident that he will get the Edwin Allen boys’ team’s first medal. “I am just going for the win. The best man will win, and I think I am the best man, so I am just going out to execute.
GOING FOR MEDAL
But definitely, I will get a medal. I am not being overconfident, but I am confident I can get the gold..,” Powell noted while adding that he and his teammates are in no way jealous of their female counterparts and are looking to build the boys’ team programme at Edwin Allen. “I felt comfortable today (yesterday). Tomorrow (today), I have the final, so I didn’t need to put out much effort until then. I wasn’t running for a time. I was running to come first. That is how you automatically qualify, so I wasn’t really looking for a time,” he told The Gleaner. “We came fifth in the shot put and we were expecting a medal, but we just want to build our own team and we have to start from somewhere,” he stated.