Get set for exciting action at two-day Corporate Area meet
THE TWO-DAY Corporate Area Development Meet, which has attracted all the top schools in Kingston and St Andrew, begins today at the Ashenheim Stadium, Jamaica College. The preliminary round of the girls’ 70-metre hurdles will get things under way at 8:30 a.m.
It is one of four regional meets that are held across the island and is a qualifier for next month’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs). The top two finishers in the 100m, 200m, and 400m in all classes will get automatic qualification to Champs.
With just over four weeks to go before Champs, fans will get a clearer picture of where the boys’ title is heading as defending champions Kingston College (KC), Jamaica College (JC), and Calabar High, the big three in local schoolboy track and field, have all been in a ‘dog fight’ all season, and the trend should continue over the next two days.
On the girls’ side, Wolmer’s Girls, who were sixth at Champs last year, just ahead of Immaculate Conception High, who were seventh, along with former Corporate Area top team Excelsior High, will also be in a three-way fight for top honours.
Meet director Ricky Martin is promising special performances at the meet.
“We are hoping that there will be good wind on Friday as we will be having some mouthwatering clashes in all classes in the 100 metres among the boys,” Martin said.
“I am also looking forward to the Class Three 100m as we could see something special between Natrece East of Wolmer’s and Kayla Johnson of Immaculate,”said Martin, who predicted that times in this class will be much faster than those in Class One.
There will be new incentives this year for the top three male and female teams. The top three (boys and girls) teams will get $150,000, $100,000 and $50,000, respectively. In addition, the top male team will receive the Dave Myrie Trophy, with the top female team walking away with the Dr Carol Long Trophy.
Immaculate and KC are in pole positions going into the meet. Both teams picked up valuable points in some field events held at the Youngster Goldsmith Classics, The events contested were the 2000m steeplechase open, pole vault, javelin, and discus throw in all classes. The shot put finals for Boys and Girls’ Class One and Two will be held tomorrow.
Immaculate lead the girls with 49 points. The others in the top five are Excelsior 42, Wolmer’s Girls 33, Merle Grove 23, and Convent of Mercy, Alpha 17.
KC lead the boys with 51, with JC 47, Calabar 34, Wolmer’s Boys 19, and Excelsior 11 completing the top five.
On the track today, there will be 14 finals in both the 100m and 1500m. The first set of finals will be the Class Three Girls’ 1500m, starting at 11:15 a.m. Preliminaries for several other events will also be held today.