Serena Cole underlines versatility with long jump win
EDWIN Allen High’s Serena Cole added the Class One long jump title to the triple jump Open she won on Friday, jumping a personal best and World Under-20-leading 6.36m (0.5m/s) on Saturday’s final day of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Championships at the National Stadium.
In a dramatic finish Cole, the Class Two champion a year ago, won the event in the fifth round after trailing St Jago High’s Machaeda Linton, the eventual silver medallist.
Linton, who was sixth in Class One last year while competing for Hydel High, had to get a legal mark in the third round to stay in the competition after fouling her first two attempts, getting a mark of 5.66m, the fifth best at the time.
Linton finished with a mark of 5.82m (0.2m/s) with Edwin Allen’s Paula Ann Chambers taking the bronze with 5.71m (0.5m/s).
The Class One athletes came up big as Edwin Allen romped to an eighth-straight win and ninth overall after they amassed 352 points, 57 more than second-place Hydel High (295). St Jago High were third with 249, Holmwood Technical were fourth with 174, and Excelsior High fifth with 107.
Camperdown High School’s Britannia Johnson won the Class One girls’ shot put title with a mark of 14.06m as the east Kingston-based school won both shot put events in the week.
Her teammate Victoria Christie had previously won the Class Two gold medal with 14.59m.
It was a massive improvement for Johnson, who was eighth in Class Two last year and finished only fifth in the discus throw final on Wednesday. On Saturday, Johnson finished ahead of Grenadian Jamora Alves (13.82m), the latter claiming her third medal of the championships. St Catherine High’s Natalie Albert was third with 13.40m.
Hydel High’s Shemonique Hazle, the 100m bronze medallist, was denied a big record by a slight tailwind after she retained her Class Three long jump title with a mark of 6.27m (2.5m/s) after winning with 6.00m last year.
She had two jumps over 6.00m in the competition — both wind-aided — including her fourth-round effort 6.02m (4.1m/s).
Excelsior High’s Shelly-Ann Taylor was second with 5.71m (1.7m/s) and Briana Campbell of St Jago was third with a wind-aided 5.71m (4.1m/s).
Vere Technical’s Torian Caven won the Class Two girls’ high jump, clearing 1.79m to finish ahead of Holmwood Technical’s Shackala Henry (1.76m) and Deijanae Bruce of Edwin Allen High (1.73m).
— Paul A Reid
