800m sweep at Champs

While Jamaica College (JC) might have missed out on the Mortimer Geddes Trophy at the ISSA-GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs), middle-distance coach Duane Johnson will take solace in his team’s performance in the middle-distance events.

JC swept the 800 metres finals in dominant style as Cavel Nooks took the Class Three title, Samuel Creary won gold in Class Two, and Kemarrio Bygrave won gold in Class One.

Johnson said it is a dream come true for him, as he had set a personal goal of sweeping the middle distances at Champs.

“It is actually a personal goal of mine for the last few years that I could actually sweep the middle-distance races at Champs. We came close for the last two years, but when I initially started out this season, I never thought in my wildest dreams that it would happen this year based on the talent that is out there,” he said.

Dynamic Nooks

Johnson explained that each gold medal was special and came with an unique significance for his athletes.

In Class Three, Johnson had no doubt Nooks would walk away as champion after already winning gold in the 1500m. In fact, he was confident Nooks would have also broken the Champs record of 1:58.06 set by Waqar DaCosta in 2007.

In the final, Nooks won gold in 1:58.25. According to Johnson, the weather conditions on the day were to blame, as Nooks barely missed out on the record.

“Truth be told, of all the athletes I’ve coached in the past, and I’ve coached some incredible athletes, I have never had a more dynamic athlete who is strong and who has speed,” he said. “There is no weakness in an athlete like that, so our goal was also to break that record. But the time of day that we had to run in with the breeze, it was just really difficult for him, and you would have seen how hard he worked.”

In Class Two, Creary was the star of the show as he completed the difficult 800m and 1500m double. Johnson said the decision for Creary to compete in the both events came as JC sought to gain as many points as possible, and the team believed Creary had the ability to win gold in both distances although he had not been prepared for the 1500m event.

“At first, it wasn’t on the cards for him to do the 1500m,” he said. “To tell the truth, it isn’t one of the events that he loves. He doesn’t run much of it but I told him, ‘Look, if we’re going to try to go after the Championships, it wouldn’t do to have one of our better athletes only doing one event.’ He didn’t hesitate and he took it on and he carried himself well,” Johnson said.

Bygrave’s title in Class One was a sentimental win for the final-year athlete.

Bygrave narrowly missed out on the gold medal in the 1500m final to Kingston College’s Brian Kiprop. Following the loss, Bygrave was determined to end his Champs career with an individual gold in the 800m.

“He was very disappointed after the 1500m final because he wanted to win that event as well, although it’s not his strongest,” Johnson. “The 800m is definitely his favourite, his pet event at Champs, and he really wanted to leave Champs winning that event, so I said to him, ‘Let us not worry about records and focus on the win,’ and that is what he did.”