Johnson, Kalawan, Edie win at NCAA Div 2 Indoor Champs
JAMAICANS DIANA Johnson, Shannon Kalawan, and Sadeekie Edie shone at the NCAA Division 2 Indoor Championships. On the campus of Pittsburg State University, Johnson, Kalawan, and Edie triumphed for Adams State University, St Augustine’s University, and Lincoln University of Missouri, respec tively. Johnson took the women’s 60m at the event contested on March 9 and 10, with Kalawan and Edie completing the Jamaica triple with success in the women’s 400m and the men’s long jump, respectively.
Johnson repeated her 2017 victory in 7.26 seconds to win over fellow Jamaican Renee Medley of Lincoln. As a student-athlete, Johnson starred at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships for Holmwood Technical and spent time at the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport before moving abroad.
Kalawan, the 2016 World Under-20 400m hurdles second-place finisher, while at Edwin Allen Comprehensive, High edged fellow Jamaican Renee Ambersley by 0.04 to win the 400m. Kalawan’s win took 54.54 seconds, and Edie, a former Calabar High School ace, now a teammate of Medley and Ambersley at Lincoln, leapt 7.76m.
SWEET WIN
The win by Edie was especially sweet because this is his final season of i ndoor eligibilit y. He had previous triumph at the same Pittsburg State venue in 2016.
Diana Caldwell, formerly of St Jago High School, leapt onto the podium twice. She spanned 6.15m for third in the long jump and 12.81m to take second in the triple jump. She, too, is a student-athlete at Lincoln, where the head coach is well-known Jamaican Victor ‘Poppy’Thomas.
Lincoln finished a strong third i n the women’s team championship race with 36 points, behind West Texas A&M, on top with 53.
LANCE ROCHESTER, first vicepresident of water polo at the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ), said winning just one of the four CARIFTA water polo finals at the Stadium pool yesterday is “disappointing”. However, he is pleased with the progress the sport has made over the last two years and expects some redemption in the near future.
Jamaica's Under-19 females defeated Barbados 10-3 in the final game for a 5-0 series win. Chenille Haughton top-scored seven goals i n yesterday's game following her nine goals on Friday. Rachel Minto-Walker, Jovdanne Harrison, and Zaydia Davis were next best for the hosts, with one each.
However, Jamaica lost the Under-14 (mixed) final 16-2 before going down 173 in the 16-and-under male decider.
"We are pleased with the progress but disappointed that we didn't get the victory in a few medal games, especially in the 19-and-under boys [final], where we won gold last time.
"It was a very close and exciting game, but all it means is that we have to keep working. You win some, and we came second in some, but we have bigger tournaments this year, and we hope this will fuel the programme towards more success in the year," he said.
However, he thought that the Bahamians were excellent. "We have a lot of respect for the Bahamas team and programme. They helped us to build the programme in the region so that we can take on the pan-American region and the world. But our team is young, and I am happy to see the progress. We just have to redouble our effort as Jamaica's water polo is moving on to great things," he continued.
Jamaica's Under-19 female coach, Alrick Brown, said that it was unfortunate there were only two female teams, but said that they had set the tempo for the five-game series from the first match against the Barbadians.
HIT THEM HARD
"Our girls came out hard in that first game, and we hit them hard and kept it going the entire tournament. After going 3-0 up, the gold was secure. So we used those last two games to get some experience in our younger girls," he added.
In a closely contested Under-19 boys final, both team were tied at 9-9 in the last quarter, but the visitors scored three successive goals late on to take a 12-9 lead. They eventually held on for a 13-10 victory.
Chris Illing, the Bahamian coach, said that teamwork made the difference. "We won a very tight game. Jamaica are a great opponent, but our boys played as a team. Everybody scored. Jamaica had one or two outstanding players that were better than our players, but our unity and our will made the difference," he said.