‘Feeling like a champion!’
With this year being her last at the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships, Jody-Ann Mitchell knew she had to make a statement, especially as she sought to attract the attention of university scouts.
And the Holmwood Technical sensation did just that.
The 19-year-old, who produced the race of her life to top the girls’ Class 1 1,500-metre final last year, not only repeated the feat but did so with aplomb as she took down Natoya Goule’s 10-year-old record of 4:29.81 minutes set in 2010.
Mitchell clocked 4:29.42, leaving rival Kishay Rowe (4:30.29) of Alphansus Davis and Hydel’s Danielle King (4:35.57) in her wake.
This was the second record of the 113th staging of the five-day spectacle at the National Stadium.
Having flirted with the time earlier this season when she clocked 4:30.31 to break the Central Championship record, Mitchell said getting by Goule’s record came as no surprise.
“It was expected, I was training hard all season and I am now seeing the results. So I am feeling like a champion. This is my last year and so I had to let the coaches see me and my performance,” Mitchell said in a post-race interview.
“So it means a lot to me. I heard people telling me that the record was close to my new season’s best, so I worked on being my best and did what I had to do. I know it was achievable, it was challenging, but I managed to pull it off,” she added.
Given the stellar line-up which included last year’s Class 2 winner Rickeisha Simms of Edwin Allen, St Mary’s Shone Walters, who was last year’s runner-up, and Rowe, Mitchell pointed out that she was tactically aware of the situation.
“The plan was to stay with the pack. I know there are some great runners in the field, but I focused on my own race and once I arrived at the 200m point, I pushed home,” she explained.
Edwin Allen’s 17-year-old Monique Stewart topped the girls’ Class 2 1,500m in 4:41.43, ahead of Cindy Rose of Holmwood Technical, who was credited with a similar time. Misha-Jade Samuels (4:53.53) of St Jago was third.
Meanwhile, Alikay Reynolds of Alphansus Davis opened her champs account in impressive fashion as she ran a well-timed race to win the girls’ Class 3 1,500m in 4:46.36. The 14-year-old won ahead of St Jago’s Kededra Coombs (4:49.07) and her Alphansus Davis teammate Tabbrel Williams (4:49.42).
