Brighter days ahead for track in the west
AFTER YEARS off the calendar, there are athletics meets being staged in Montego Bay. Among those pleased with the development is Stephen Smith, president of the County of Cornwall Athletics Association.
The buzz focused on the First Chance Meet held at Cornwall College on the January 6 and the first staging of the Montego Bay Comets Athletics Club Run for the Republic development meet at Herbert Morrison High School the following week.
Speaking last Saturday at the STETHS Invitational in Santa Cruz, Smith said, “It’s good to have the meet back. We had to put a lot of work in to ensure we have meets although we have no track but we had to get some meets back for the schools to participate.”
In reference to the First Chance meet, the response from schools was good.
“The fact that we had a good electronic system, everything was in place and, you know, they see it as a meet everyone was talking about, want it back next year,”the president reported.
“My sense is that we have to be looking to our stakeholders if we want to grow the meet. We have been out for more than a year but we are now coming back in full swing so we are putting plans in place,” Smith said.
The capacious 400-metre Cornwall College track saw some good results. Notably, Jabari Matheson of William Knibb Memorial High ran the Class Two 400m in 50.11 seconds. Over two laps, Rhianna Lewis of Rhodes Hall High School showed why she won medals for Jamaica at the Carifta Games last year with a run of two minutes 35.78 seconds in Class Two.
The Class Three boys’ 800m was fast, with Petersfield High’s Jamario Reid needing a personal best 2.12.15 to beat William Knibb’s Aldaine Brown, 2.12.68.
Top performance in the field was the heave of 16.51 metres by Mar-Lando Farquharson of Cornwall in the Class One shot.
At the Comets meet, 2022 Class Three Boys and Girls’ Championships 100m winner gold Tavaine Stewart won the Class Two sprint double on his home track. In the 100m, he covered the distance in 11.20 seconds.