Non-traditional schools to make presence felt at Champs

SEVERAL athletes from non-traditional schools are expected to make their mark at next week’s ISSA-GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

Leading the way for the girls is Shanoya Douglas of Muschett High. She will be competing in the Class Two 200 and 400 metres, and indications are that she will help her team to improve immensely on last year’s performance. Muschett finished 28th in 2023 with six points.

Douglas is ranked number one in the 200m with 22.85 seconds (plus 2.1 metres per second wind), achieved at the recent Carifta Trials. She is expected to have a battle royal with Edwin Allen’s Theianna-Lee Terrelonge in the event. The Muschett athlete is also strongly tipped to win the 400m and land double gold in her first year in Class Two. Sabrina Dockery of Lacovia High, with a season’s best of 11.45 in the 100m and a wind-aided 22.92 in the 200m, should also do well in the class.

Athletes from Alphansus Davis High have put their hands up in recent years, and this year should be no different. Last year, they were 11th overall after garnering 38 points and will be eyeing a top-10 finish. Alikaye Reynolds and Tabbarel Williams in Class Three and Carlene Temple in Class One middle-distance events are their top athletes.

Reynolds is the top-ranked athlete in the 1500m with 4:39.40, while she is ranked number two in the 800m with a best of 2:12.88. Williams looks set to join her in the finals of both events with her season’s best of 2:15.70 in the 800m and 4:57.36 in the 1500m. Temple, with times of 2:09.59 and 4:44.13, is ranked third and seventh, respectively, over both events.

Rihanna Scott of Ferncourt High is set to be a double winner in Class Four. Unbeaten in both the 100 and 200 metres all season, she is ranked number one in the former, with 12.02, and number three in the latter, with 25.15. She is expected to go much faster at the championships in both events.

Kevina Bourne of Port Antonio High, with a season’s best 55.86 in the Class Three 400m; Rihanna Lewis of Rhodes Hall in the 400m hurdles open, with a best of 1:00.49; and Chevauna Smith of Titchfield High, with a season’s best 11.74 in Class One 100m, should all be among the finalists in their respective events.

Johan-Ramaldo Smythe of Muschett should lead the way among the boys from non-traditional schools as he looks set to lift his performances in the Class Two sprints after finishing seventh in both the 100m and 200m a year ago. He is the top-ranked athlete in the 200m with a wind-aided 20.97 and should hold off the challenge of Calabar High’s Nickecoy Bramwell.

After finishing ninth with 46 points among the boys last year to be the top non-traditional team at Champs last year, athletes from Maggotty High will be hoping to go even higher. Zachary Wallace in Class One 400m and Yoshane Bowen in Class One 800m will carry their team’s hopes here. Wallace, with 47.44 seconds, is number three in the 400m while Bowen is number two in the 800m with 1:51.46.

Omarian Barrett of Steer Town Academy, with a season’s best 10.52, should be among the top contenders in the Class One 100m. He is also expected to play a pivotal role in his team’s 4x100m team, where they went sub-41 seconds in an upset win at the Central Athletics Championships.

Jaquan Souden of Happy Grove High, who is ranked number three in the Class Three high jump with a best of 1.93m, is another athlete who should do well.