Records galore at Central Hurdles and Relays Meet
IT WAS records galore at Saturday’s ninth staging of the Central Hurdles and Relays Meet at G.C. Foster College as some of the country’s top senior and high-school athletes entertained the fair-sized crowd with excellent performances on and off the track.
On a day where athletes from MVP and Sprintec track clubs were in great numbers as they prepare for the World Indoors and Commonwealth Games, the organisers must have felt proud of the performances in the end.
Leading the way among the seniors was Shericka Jackson, who has been the country’s most successful female quarter-miler over the past three years on the international scene, reverting to her pet event, which she dominated as a junior, the 200m.
The Stephen Francis-coached athlete smashed the female half-lap record after clocking a speedy 23.02 seconds to erase the 2016 mark of 24.08 seconds set by Sashalee Forbes.
The top four finishers all went under the old record. Rhonda Whyte, of Sprintec, was second in 23.62 seconds, as the University of Technology’s (UTech) Junelle Bromfield closed out the top three, finishing third in 23.81 seconds.
Jackson’s teammate at MVP, Christania Williams, a finalist at the Rio Olympics, warmed up for the Indoors with a good win in the women’s 60m, clocking 7.21 seconds. Her teammates at MVP, the Bahamas pair of Shaniqua Ferguson and Antonique Strachan, were second and third in 7.41 and 7.47 seconds, respectively.
WOMEN’S 60M HURDLES
In an event contested in the country for the first time, the women’s 60m hurdles saw Megan Simmonds-Tapper coming out on top in 8.24 seconds, ahead of teammates Ladonna Richards and Shimarya Williams, 8.31 and 8.32 seconds, respectively.
On the male side for the seniors, it was 400m national record holder Rusheen McDonald who led the way with a meet record run in the men’s 200m, stopping the clock at 20.96 seconds to win, erasing Nigel Ellis’ two-year-old record of 21.10 seconds. The UTech pair of Devaughn Baker, 21.51, and Tajay Gayle, 21.58 seconds, took second and third, respectively.
In other senior events, Ronald Levy of MVP captured the men’s 60m hurdles in 7.84 seconds, ahead of his teammate, Welshman David Omoregie, who was second in 7.97 seconds. The men’s 60m went to Sprintec Kimmari Roach in 6.59 seconds.