TAMPERE, Finland — Orlando Bennett, who won the silver medal in the men’s 110m hurdles on Thursday, and 100m finalist Michael Stephens were named in the men’s 4x100m relay pool for the preliminaries of the IAAF World Under 20 Championships that will take place later this afternoon at the Tampere stadium.

Christopher Taylor was named in the men’s pool as well as Briana Williams on the women’s side, but it is unlikely either will run until the finals on Saturday.

Taylor is down to contest the men’s 400m final today while Williams, who won the women’s 100m yesterday, will also run the semi-finals of the 200m this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Michael Bentley who withdrew from the semi-finals of the 100m because of injury was not considered for the team.

The full six declared for the men’s team are: Orlando Bennett, Anthony Carpenter, Jhevaughn Matherson, Xavier Nairne, Michael Stephens and Christopher Taylor.

Okera Myrie, who made it to the semi-finals of the women’s 100m, was also named to the women’s pool that will see four runners who will be making their first appearance of the championships.

The women’s pool: Fredricka McKenzie, Ockera Myrie, Kemba Nelson, Ackera Nugent, Kimone Shaw and Briana Williams.

On Thursday, Omar Hawes, the coach responsible for the male sprint relay team, had defended the quality of the pool despite the absence of two members of the team and the potential absence of another.

Hawes told the Jamaica Observer that he thinks there is still enough quality here to take Jamaica at least into the final of the event on Saturday.

Tyreek Wilson and Dejour Russell, who were both expected to add depth to a strong team, did not make the trip to Finland for various reasons while Bentley, the sprint double winner at the JAAA National Junior Championships withdrew from the 100m semi-finals on Wednesday after getting a cramp in his hamstring during warm ups.

“I would not go as far as to say we have concerns,” Hawes told the Jamaica Observer in Thursday’s morning session, “but we have some issues that we need to sort out to see how we can get the best set of youngsters that are here to make up a pool.”

Hawes said “we still have some quality here and as coaches we will meet to see how best we can formulate a team to see how best they compare and have the quality to get to the finals.”

He said no stones will be left unturned and even if they have to recruit sprint hurdlers or quarter milers, they would get the best available runners into the pool.

“The option is still wide open to all who are here,” he said and listed Jhevaughn Matherson, Michael Stephens who was in the men’s 100m finals, Xavier Nairne who is a semi-finalist in the 200m as well as Christopher Taylor who ran a 10.11 seconds to tie the National Junior Record in the 100m a week before the team left for the championships.

“We will look at the best group that we can put together here and we will be competitive,” Hawes said.

Paul Reid