As an occasion where old acquaintances are usually renewed, the JC/WATA Development meet has always had a certain charm about it. This year, last Saturday, a nicely rolled track and bright sunshine set the stage for Herbert Thomas of Munro College and Christiana Williams of Edwin Allen to usher in a new year of speedy running.
The freewheeling Thomas produced two polished performances in Class 2. Though Romaine Headman of Jamaica College (JC) had the fastest time over 800m – 2 minutes, 0.3.8 seconds, Thomas was easy in his run of 2.06.5.
This event is probably going to be one to watch this season as at JC, 7 boys led by Headman and Thomas broke 2:10 on the tight 320m track.
With the bright sunshine fading, Thomas later shone over 1500m and set the fastest Class 2 time of 4:25.5.
Biggest Shock
Williams, an ineligible transfer for Oracabessa, produced the biggest shock. Second in the 2009 Girls Championships Class 4 100m, Williams blasted from the blocks in her heats in the Class 2 100. Flying in the sky blue of Edwin Allen, she stayed on the gas all the way to the time and crossed it in 11.3 seconds.
Her time showed how much progress she has made already under the guidance of expert coach Michael Dyke, how helpful the slightly downhill JC sprint straight can be and how unreliable untrained hand times can be.
With timers, unofficial and official, finding it difficult to see the smoke from the starting gun, many stopwatches had readings of 10.9, 11.0 and 11.1 when she had finished speeding.
It wasn’t the only time where official times and reality diverged. Rohan Walker, a double winner in Class 3 last year for JC, was credited with a time of 10.44 for 100m in Class 2 when a more reasonable clocking pegged Walker at 10.7.
Edward Clarke, son of the JC Champs hero of the 1990s, had his hands full with unheralded Jevaughn Menzie of Bog Walk. Both crossed the line in 10.8.
Last year, young Clarke was second in the class 3 100m at Champs.
Given the aforementioned need for caution, the times quoted in this article are the unofficial ones taken by the author. Given the consistent divergence, the sparkling performance by Megan Simmonds of St. Andrew High in the Class 2 100m hurdles can be recalculated from the official 13.77 to something in the 14.1 range. That would still be a great run for the 2010 Carifta Under-17 champion.
Similarly, the 10.33 time for Tevin Wilson of Munro in the Class 2 boys 100m should be viewed as a 10.6 or a 10.7.
The best performance in the field came from former Calabar star Chad Wright. To wrap up his Christmas break from studies at University in Nebraska, Wright heaved the discus 56.01 meters.
HUBERT LAWRENCE, author of the Champs 100 book, has covered local and international athletics since 1987.