Walker to uphold VERE TRADITION
‘She hates to lose and she’s had a problem where she slows up at the finish line and we’re working hard at fixing that.’
THIRD LAST year in the 400-metre hurdles at Boys and Girls’ Championships, Sanique Walker thinks she can win this time around. Walker is mindful of the Vere Technical High School tradition in the event and wants to live up to the expectations. Vere’s coach, John Mair, says she always does her best for the school.
“A lot of persons are expecting me to do well in the 400-metre hurdles because of Vere Technical’s history, so I have to live up to the expectations,” she said thoughtfully earlier this week at the school that numbers 1996 Olympic champion Deon HemmingsMcCatty among its graduates.
Gabrielle Mcdonald and Nicolee Foster who were first and second last year, are now at college in the USA. “Everyone is expecting me to win because those two girls are gone so I think, yes, I can win the Championships,” she quietly allowed.
Though she has run 57.20 and 57.27 seconds at Championships in the past, she knows it won’t be easy. The gifted Shian Salmon of Hydel High School, who was fourth in both 2016 and 2017, will be on her trail and Walker acknowledged how good Salmon is. “She is,” Walker agreed, “so she’s going to be one of my main competitors, but I’m just going to do my best.”
Coach Mair, a 1987 World Championship 400 bronze medal winner, said her preparation has been going well. “She developed a little injury behind her knee, so we’ve been nursing that, but so far it’s coming on nicely,” he reported.
Walker has won seven Girls’ Championship medals in individual events including gold in the 2016 Class 2 400 metres. In addition, she set a Carifta Games Under-18 400m hurdles record of 58.95 seconds last year in Curacao. Coach Mair knows why. “She’s committed, dedicated and hard-working,” he testified.
She is also versatile enough to have won Champs medals in the long jump and 800 metres.
Shy off the track, Walker already has eight CXC subjects and shows her determination when she runs for Vere. “Oh yes, she loves her school,” he said of the Junction, St Elizabeth native, “and she wants to do the best for her school.”
He reckons she will win at Champs. “I see a Sanique Walker coming out on top,” he predicted. “She hates to lose and she’s had a problem where she slows up at the finish line and we’re working hard at fixing that,” the coach resolved.
That’s how she lost last year’s Class 2 400 metres final to Kimara Francis, then of St Jago High.