Calabar pair impressive in triple, long jumps
Calabar High School’s Luke Brown and Jordan Turner have sent messages that they will be hard to beat this year after recording impressive marks in the Under-20 triple and long jump events, respectively, at Saturday’s third Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Qualifying Trials at Jamaica College.
Brown’s 16.01m to win the Class One triple jump and Turner’s 7.72m in the Class One long jump would have both been World Under-20 leads as well as qualifying marks for the World Athletics Under-20 championships set for Nairobi, Kenya in August, but for the absence of wind gauge readings that would make them legal under World Athletics rules.
Brown, who has a legal personal best 15.57m set in March last year, has gone over 16.00m in the past when he jumped 16.04m in February last year, but the mark also was not ratified due to the absence of a wind gauge.
Kingston College’s Jaheim Cox’s 15.24m for second in the Class One triple jump would also put him into fourth place on the World Athletics Under-20 list, but he would still be short of the 15.60m required to qualify for the World Under-20 event, while another Kingston College jumper, Tajae Francis, was third with 14.46m.
Turner, who has a legal 7.71m set last year, was pushed by Wolmer’s Boys’ School’s Nando Meggs, who had a mark of 7.15m.
Kingston College’s Jaydon Hibbert won the Class Two triple jump with 15.04m, comfortably over his teammate Anthony Willis, who had 14.02m, with Calabar’s Nathan Wade third with 13.96m.
St Jago High School’s Balvin Israel won the Class Two long jump with 7.16m, ahead of Kingston College’s Anthony Willis with 6.67m and Nathan Wade of Calabar third with 6.59m.
Jamaica College’s Zidane Brown won the Class One 200m with 21.32 seconds, Clarendon College’s Rahyme Christian was second with 21.51 seconds and Herbert Morrison’s Mark Daley third in 21.73 seconds.
Excelsior High School’s Damor Miller won the Class Two race with 22.35 seconds, ahead of Dejhaun Strachan of Titchfield (22.76 seconds) and Clarendon College’s Sherdon McKnight third in 22.82 seconds.
— Paul Reid