JC lead in tight Champs race
published: Saturday | March 27, 2004

By ANTHONY FOSTER, Freelance Writer

JAMAICA COLLEGE (JC) are the new leaders at the 2004 VMBS Boys Championships which set up a three-horse race with defending champions Kingston College and Calabar entering today's final day at the National Stadium.

JC lead with 87 points, 10 more than defending champions Kingston College. They are followed in the top 10 by St. Jago (61), Calabar (57), Bridgeport (31), Morant Bay (27), Mannings (25), Wolmer's (23.5), St. George's 23) and Herbert Morrison (17).

However, Camperdown's Renaldo Rose was yesterday's star. Rose ran an impressive 10.45 seconds to remove KC's Andre Wellington's old mark of 10.71 in the Class Two 100m.

In running a faster time than the Class One winner, Rose finished ahead of Winston Barnes of JC (10.80) and KC's Cawayne Jervis (10.91). The Class One equivalent went to Kevin Stewart of St. George's College in 10.49 ahead of Vere's Kawayne Fisher (10.54) and KC's Andre Wellington (10.55).

Jamaica College's Sharif Small was also in record-breaking form. Small led a JC one-two, this as his record 48.77m throw beat KC's Fabian Morgan's three-year mark of 45.77. His teammate, Ramone Birch (43.23m), was second.

CENTRAL HIGH WIN GOLD

Triston Taylor of Central High topped the Class Three 100m. Coming out of Central, not much was expected of Taylor, but he proved to the crowd that he has the quality when he romped to victory in 10.94. He won ahead of Khorey Spalding of St. George's College (11.32) and Andre Peart of KC (11.33).

Josef Robertson of Calabar took top honours in the boys' 400m hurdles Open. Robertson (51.33) ran a smooth race to dispatch aSt. Jago's Markino Buckley (52.81) and Tywayne Buchanan of Wolmer's (53.00).

The Class One 1,500m title went to Jermaine Gordon in 3:57.83. Eastern Champs champion Andre Drummond of Glengoffe (4:00.79) and Kayon Smith of Vere (4:01.33) took the minors places.

In the Class Two 1,500m event Bengallo Morrison of JC (4:14.60) topped Desrick Brooks of St. Elizabeth Technical (4:16.88) and Romaine McDonald of St. Jago (4:17.45) for the gold medal.

Nicholas Gordon of Calabar (6.79m) beat Orlando Duffus of JC (5.05) and Dwight Webley of Morant Bay (6.53) for the long jump Class Two title. In the Class One 110m hurdles, defending champion Brian Haye of Ardenne suffered a shock exit. He hit the second to last hurdle and failed to qualify for the final.

In the final, Lorne Campbell of Herbert Morrison (14.00) leads the pack ahead of Wolmer's Matthew Palmer (14.26) and Calabar's Ackeil Facey (14.35).

In the Class Two event, favourite Romaine Gordon of JC leads with a time of 14.56. Morant Bay's Ackeem Smith (14.63) is also a dangerous contender.

Going into the medley relay final, St. Jago (3:35.17) lead Holmwood (3:35.63) and Cornwall (3:36.35).

Calbara's Robertson will start favourite for this afternoon's 400m hurdles final set for 1:55 p.m. However, he will not have things his own way as Carlington Morgan of Knox (48.10), Rohan Phipps of Tivoli (48.16) and Michael Gardener of Norman Manley (48.32) are very good competitors.

In Class Two, Orville Riley of Calabar and Holmwood's Romel Lewis, both with 49.32, lead that field.