Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
At Left: Calabar's Warren Weir (left) gets the better of Kingston College's Keiron Stewart (centre) in the Class Two 110m hurdles final at the National Stadium last Saturday. In a close finish, Weir clocked 13.92 seconds to beat Stewart, 13.93.
At Right: Vere's Jura Levy (centre) powers towards the finish line to win the Class Three 200m ahead of Holmwood's Petra Fanty (right) at the Boys and Girls' Championships. Levy won the event in 24.18 while Fanty was fourth in 24.84. - PHOTOS BY RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
SOME OF the losing coaches from the weekend's VMBS/ISSA Boys and Girls' Championships teams have express mixed feelings about their team's performances.
While Calabar's coach, Michael Clarke, believes his team did very well for second behind Kingston, Vere's Dwayne Jarrett and St. Jago's Raymond 'KC' Graham said they were badly affected by injuries.
CALABAR
"The team did very, very well ... the performances were very good," Clarke said.
"They (boys) performed above expectation. It's just that KC has more depth than us," he said.
Clarke said the highlight of the Championships for Calabar was breaking two records in the sprint relays.
"There were a lot of positives for Calabar," said Clarke while admitting it wouldn't have been possible without the support of the management team.
VERE
Vere's coach, Jarrett, said things started out bad for his team from as early as the opening day when they lost Deanadre Whitehorne to a hamstring injury in the relays.
"She would have played a very important role because she alone was good for 18 points in the sprints," Jarrett added.
Jarrett said they also suffered in the 400m hurdles final when Sasha-Gaye Cunningham stopped after 200m.
"She also was good for six points. Between those two athletes we lost about 24 points," he said.
He said he wasn't going to talk about people who did not participate, nor the ones who underperformed because there were athletes who performed above expectations.
"Jillisa Grant was down to finish seventh in the Class Two long jump but won; Kimona Hirrott double medalled (third in the shot and second in the javelin); Trishana Williams (bronze medal - Class Three discus); Trudeann Clarke (third - Class One 400m and third 200m) also did well.
"These people were not predicted to be there but, like the relay teams, they rose to the occasion."
Jarrett said with the fact that Vere weren't the favourites, they did well as "it was two quality teams, one has to be a loser, one a winner."
ST. JAGO
St. Jago were also among the top-rated teams for Champs, but injuries to key athletes such as World Youth and Pan Am Junior 100m hurdles silver medallist Natasha Ruddock and World Youth 200m bronze medallist Latoya King dented their hopes from early.
Graham, coach at St. Jago, blamed indiscipline, the poor playing field and violence in and around Spanish Town for his team's below-par performance.
"There were many negatives but we can't go any lower than this (sixth place finish)," he promised the team's fans.
"For the three weeks I was absent, indiscipline crept in. They (athletes) were not following instruction from the people left in charge," added Graham, who was away on national duty at the Commonwealth Games.
"Injuries to key athletes - my best three Class Two athletes King, Ruddock and Yanique Haye - along with my entire Class One team was injured, except Mellisha Ogdourne.
"In a championships, when you have your top athletes not participating it has a ripple effect on the entire team. This team is a very, very young team," he said.
