Williams strikes first!

BY PAUL A REID Observer West Writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com

Thursday, February 23, 2012

CATHERINE HALL, St James - Munro College's Delano Williams drew first blood in what is expected to be a season long battle with Green Island's Odail Todd that could end up at the IAAF's World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain in July, after winning the boys' Class 1 sprint double at last week's Milo County of Cornwall Athletics Association's (COCAA) Western Champs at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Williams sped to a pair of personal best times of 10.34 seconds - a meet record - and 20.53 seconds in the 100m and 200m respectively, beating Todd the World Youth Championships 100m gold medalists both times.

With Williams who represents the Turks and Caicos Islands and who is seeking British citizenship in time for the London Olympics, not eligible to run at the CARIFTA and National Junior Trials, his only other clash with Todd could be at the ISSA Boys Championships in late March and the World Junior Championships, if both runners make it that far.

The match up between Williams who won both events last year and Todd was one of the highly anticipated events on Saturday, the third day of the Championships and saw spectators standing in anticipation as the athletes got to the starting line.

Neil Harrison, the Munro College head coach said the World Junior Championships is the target for Williams who failed to get past the first round of the both the 100m and 200m races at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada in 2010.

"An athlete with Delano's abilities should have a world title under his belt," Harrison said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Todd who ran a personal best 10.42 seconds in the 100m and equalled his personal best 21.00 seconds in the 200m is still on target, according to his coach Michael McIntosh.

McIntosh said Todd who won the Under 20 sprint double at the National Junior Trials last year on his way to a gold and silver at the World Youths in Lille, France had exceeded the times they had forecast for the meet.

Meanwhile, among the several double winners at the meet were Herbert Morrison's Gawain Williams who was impressive in copping the boys' Class 2 100m/200m double in a smart 10.51 seconds and 21.66 seconds respectively, before anchoring the 4x100m team to the gold in 42.61 seconds.

Petersfield High's Asaine Hall who represented the island in the Commonwealth Youth Games in the Isles of Man last year, won the girls Class 2 200m/400m double, setting a new meet record 55.39 seconds in the latter, breaking former STETHS athlete Shericka Williams' 56.1 seconds set nine years ago in 2003.

She was also third in the 100m.