SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Mt Alvernia High School’s Class 2 long jumper Aaliyah Foster and Albert Town High’s Class 3 middle distance runner Neon Smith were among the top performers at last Saturday’s Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) Qualifyication Trials 3.0, held at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Sports Complex in Santa Cruz.

With the COCAA Western Championships, which is a qualifier for the ISSA National Championships, expected to be held at the end of the month, teams welcomed the opportunity to experience valuable competition — some after months of training.

On Saturday Foster, who was competing for the first time this year, won the Class 2 long jump with an impressive 5.75m, taking only three of her allotted six jumps before calling it a day.

The impressive Foster, who jumped 5.95m in Class 3 last year, also had a 5.40m effort before she ran 26.56 seconds for second place in the 200m, behind Manchester High’s Ann-Lie Waite (-26.01 seconds). Rusea’s High School’s Crystal Chambers was fourth with 26.75 seconds.

The Mt Alvernia pair of Sharla Bell (-27.23 seconds) and Veneisha Lynch (-27.82 seconds) finished first and second in the Class 4 200m, respectively, with Rhodes Hall’s Rhianna Lewis third in 27.87 seconds.

Albert Town’s Smith was in a class of her own as she won the Class 3 girls’ 800m by running 2:21.66 and finishing comfortably ahead of the field.

The Cornwall College pair of O’Brien Bowen and Kenomar Jones both recorded jumps of 6.10m in the Class 2 long jump but Bowen got the win with a better series, completing three more jumps over 6.00m.

Throwers from Rusea’s High School won the boys’ and girls’ Class 1 shot put events, with Javaine Jones throwing 13.76m to win the boys’ competition and finish ahead of two throwers from St Elizabeth Technical.

Leonie Samuels won the Girls’ Class 1 event with a best of 12.44m to beat Manchester High’s Fabrienne Foster (-11.67m) and STETHS’s Georgia Burton (-11.12m).