GC Foster 400-metre double pleases Wilson
VERONE CHAMBERS and Demish Gaye won the women’s and men’s 400m sprints at the Jamaica Intercollegiate Track and Field Championships with performances that pleased Maurice Wilson, their coach, at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sports. Both set personal bests to win at 51.70 and 45.24 seconds, respectively. The happy coach had high praises for each of them. Chambers, a former Edwin Allen High School and Oklahoma Baptist University track athlete, overtook Dawnalee Loney of the Mico University College in front of an appreciative National Stadium audience to give G.C. Foster the women’s crown. “I’m very happy that we were able to assist Verone Chambers because she made the decision to come to Jamaica to train with me, so I felt I had an obligation to her,” Wilson said. “So I am very, very happy with the results,” he said after the compact 28-year-old Chambers had broken 52 seconds for the first time.
EQUALLY PLEASED
He was equally pleased after Gaye retained his 400m title. The newcomer was fancied for a place in Jamaica’s Olympic 4x400m relay pool last year, but was derailed by the Zika virus. “I’m very happy with his performance”, Wilson smiled, “and after he ran today, I was saying to myself, how am I going to make sure that he’s kept healthy, and that is an important responsibility I have to monitor.”
Gaye recently cut his best 200m time to 20.52 seconds. In reference to the progress he has made, the coach commented, “He has been doing everything that has been asked of him, so he deserves the best.”
Presented with the observation that the 24-year-old Gaye has short pitter-patter steps, the coach thoughtfully replied with a reference to the running styles of two Olympic champions. “Well, Michael Johnson was different”, he offered. “Lashawn Merritt is different, so once I keep getting that speed out of those legs,” he proposed, “I don’t think there is much to change.”
Gaye also helped G.C. Foster to win the 4x400m relay with a whirlwind anchor leg timed in 44.2 seconds.
The focus for the fast pair seems to be the National Senior Championships in June. “We still have, in my opinion, two months to go before what I would term would be our major meet,” Wilson analysed, “but I’m extremely happy because it has been a long journey.”