Six records, three world-leading times highlight ‘Classic’
SIX meet records were broken and three World Leading times done at Saturday’s fifth staging of the UTech Track and Tield Classic at the National Stadium.
Despite poor weather conditions that affected the event, especially the field events, the more than half-filled Grandstand was treated to some outstanding performances, especially in the men’s sprinting where World Champion Yohan Blake set a meet record and World Leading 9.90 seconds in the 100m after helping the Racers 4x100m team clock a world-best 37.82 seconds in the 4x100m.
Rosemarie Whyte’s 51.13 seconds was not the meet record, but is the fastest 400m in the world so far, beating Sherone Simpson’s 51.42 seconds done earlier.
In the absence of Bolt who had considered running the 200m, and Asafa Powell, MVP’s Nesta Carter took the 200m in 20.48 seconds, beating Racers’ Daniel Bailey (20.60 seconds) and GC Foster’s World University Games champion Rasheed Dwyer (20.71).
Jade Bailey of Barbados won the female 200m in 23.89 seconds ahead of Celia Walters of Racers (23.92) and Audra Segree (24.85 seconds).
World University Games gold medallist O’Dayne Richards’ 18.89m surpassed the 18.08m set last year by GC Foster’s Raymond Brown.
Brown was second on Saturday with 18.40m with Shane Dodd third with 15.18m.
UTech’s Shauna Kay Woolery won the female shot put competition with 14.07m, beating Edwin Allen’s Danielle Thomas (13.60m).
The Jamaica College pair of Fitzroy Dunkley and Ashani Wright cleared 2.00m in the high jump with Dunkley declared the winner, while Darrel Garwood of UWI-Mona took the bronze with 1.95m.
Despite small fields, both sprint hurdle records fell to UWI’s Hansle Parchment and Shermaine Williams.
Parchment, the World University Games champion, ran 13.71 seconds for the 110m hurdles to beat the old tie of 14.14 seconds set in 2009 by Jean Juste of University of Albany with Markino Buckley second in 14.32 seconds and Simon Dickens of UTech third in 14.36 seconds.
Williams, the 2008 World Junior Championships silver medallist, won the 100m hurdles in 13.15 seconds, just breaking the 13.16 seconds set in 2008 by Brigitte Foster-Hylton, beating Latoya Greaves (13.17 seconds) in a close finish, while Commonwealth Games finalist Andrea Bliss was third in 13.53 seconds.
