By Elton Tucker,
Assistant Sport Editor
KINGSTON College surged to their accustomed first day lead at the VMBS Boys and Girls Championships at the National Stadium yesterday.
Leading the way for KC was Class 2 shot putter Fabian Morgan who heaved a record 15.09 metres to break the 14.96m mark set by his schoolmate Kimani Kirton last year.
The win and third place by Shenton Livingston 13.10m pushed KC to 15 points, six ahead of Calabar on nine. Defending champions Jamaica College are next on five, Munro four, Islington Comprehensive three and St. Jago one.
Calabar's Jermaine Sheriff placed second in the shot with a throw of 13.43m.
At press time KC were poised to stretch their lead as Dwayne Robinson had second spot in the Class 1 long jump final going into the last two rounds. Munro's Paul Thompson led with 7.29m after the second round.
St. Jago's Marvin Pinnock led Class 1 qualifiers into today's semi-finals of the 800 metres.
Pinnock won heat 1 in 1.56.77. Shaun Smith of Christiana was just behind taking heat 3 in 1.56.85. The Holmwood Technical pair, Jermaine Myers and Kirk Wint, looked relaxed in clocking 1.57.69 and 1.57.80 in winning heats 4 and 7. The other leading qualifiers were Jacques Smith of Cornwall who came from well off the pace to clip Jermaine Golden of Seaforth High in heat 5. His time was 1.58.45.
Romel Blackwood of Jamaica College leads the way in Class 2 800m after clocking 2.01.97 to take heat 2. Dwight Simms (Ferncourt) 2.02.16, Bill Allen (Haile Selassie) 2.02.42 and Jermaine Gordon (St. Jago) were the other leading qualifiers for the semi-finals.
Kingston Technical's Kenneth Salmon and Shavon Parkes of JC appear set for a close battle in the Class 3 800 metres. Salmon clipped Parkes, 2.05.00 to 2.05.78, in heat 2 but the result could have gone either way. The third best time also came in heat 2 with Kenroy Williams of Mannings crossing the line in 2.06.47.
All the leading contenders came through without mishap to book places in this evening's 400m hurdles open final. Ardenne's Richard Phillips led all qualifiers with 53.14, Derron Herah of St. Jago clocked 53.33 to record the next best time while race favourite Gregory Little of Wolmer's took things easy to take heat 2 in 53.59.
Defending champions JC found things rough in the heats of the sprint relays. They failed to advance in the Class 3 finishing third in heat 1 behind St. Jago and Camperdown in an event where only the first two in each heat advanced. St. Jago and Wolmers' both clocked 44.95 and should be the ones to beat on Saturday.
In Class 1 JC's anchor man Sekou Clarke was forced to make a terrific run to get his school back into contention after the third leg runner pulled a muscle and barely got to the changeover point. JC clocked 42.52 for second behind Bridgeport who ran 41.49, the fastest time in the heats. The other leading qualifiers are Manchester High 41.69, Camperdown 41.87 and Calabar 41.99.
Three more boys finals will be completed today. The first, high jump Class 3 is on at 5 p.m. to be followed at 6.20 by discus Class 1 and 400m hurdles at 6.55.
