Daley, Dawkins crowned champions in Nicaragua

JAMAICA’S JENOI Daley and Dequan Dawkins were respectively crowned under-13 female and under-15 male champions at the NACAC Age Group Championships over the weekend in Nicaragua.

The multiple-event championships saw Daley, the St Patrick Primary athlete, scoring a narrow two-point win over her nearest rival after amassing 2,735 points in the pentathlon, which lasted over two days.

Mikyla Sears of Barbados finished second with 2,733 points, while Amari Joseph of Grenada was third with 2,635 points.

Jamaica’s other representative, Danella Speed of Lyssons Primary, ended sixth with 2,608 points.

Daley’s best results came in the 60 metres and ball throw, events in which she finished second, clocking 8.37 seconds in the former and 42.60 metres in the latter.

She was third in the high jump with a clearance of 1.40 metres, fifth in the 1000 metres in 2:40.28, and seventh in the long jump with a distance of 4.29 metres.

In the girls’ under-15 age group, the Edwin Allen High pair of Danelia and Dashanelle Clarke had to settle for seventh and eighth with 3,872 and 3,838 points, respectively. Rosemery Aybor of the Dominican Republic won with 4,414 points, ahead of Rejada Hinds of Barbados, second with 4,340 points, and Jazae Johnson of The Bahamas, third with 4,284 points.

Jamaica did not fare too well in the boys’ under-13 category. Ricardo Granville of Naggo Head Primary ended 18th, while Davere Walker of Lyssons failed to finish his final event, the 1000m, and was not among the points earners in the end.

Dawkins of Kingston College was a comfortable winner in the boys’ heptathlon, a seven-discipline event, after amassing 5,096 points. His nearest rivals, Justin Shepherd of The Bahamas and Deshawn Oliver of Grenada, were both tied for second on 5,002 points — 94 points behind.

Dawkins’ teammate, Nahjeir Francis, also from Kingston College, ended sixth with 4,799 points.

Despite a slow start from Dawkins, where he ended 14th in the 80m in 9.70 seconds and finished fourth in the shot put with a heave of 11.58 metres, he went on to secure three consecutive first-place finishes. He won the long jump with 6.09 metres, the 80m hurdles in 10.77 seconds, and the high jump after clearing 1.86. Despite placing 13th in the ball throw with 52.50 and 10th in the closing event, the 1,200m in 4:02.21, he had enough points to stamp his authority.

There was also a mixed 4x100-metre relay for both age groups, where Jamaica was second in the under-15 division. The quartet of Dashanelle Clarke, Nahjeir Francis, Danelia Clarke and Dequan Dawkins finished second in 46.52 seconds. The Bahamas won in 45.74, with St Maarten, third in 47.61.

Jamaica did not field a team in the under-13 category, as Walker, who got injured and failed to finish the 1000m, could not participate in the relay.