“It was a close finish,” newly crowned 1500m gold medallist Jevina Straker said of her feat at the recent Junior Carifta Games.
The 16-year-old clocked 4:43:33 to win, mere seconds ahead of second-place finisher Marlene Eubank who clocked 4:43:45. “It was challenging,” a buoyant Straker said when Stabroek Sport visited her on her first day back at school at Tutorial High. She said she had competed against two Jamaican athletes who were the strongest in the field.
The two-time Junior Carifta Games champ in the 1500m race said that to date, no ministry official had recognised her achievements and she brushed off the lukewarm welcome she received at the CJ Airport on her return home on Wednesday.
Though the middle-distance runner won the girls under-17 1500m, she was not so successful in the 800m race. Straker said it was advice from her coach Leslie Black and encouragement from her friends, including runner Alika Morgan, that saw her through to victory in the 1500m. She shadowed the Jamaican runner’s every move she said, and over the last 300m, they picked up the pace which proved too much for third-place finisher Vanessa Philbert, who left Straker and Eubank to battle it out. Straker proved to have more stamina, as evidenced by her victory.
However, the 1500m gold medallist could not replicate her Friday night feat when she competed in the 800 m race three days later. She finished ninth out of 10 runners. In recalling her performance, Straker said the race started off fast and coupled with feeling a bit under the weather, it threw her off-balance. However, she said she would not allow that defeat to overshadow her earlier victory.
Straker also recalled that there was much debate about her being sent to the Games in the first place. She was listed third in terms of priority behind sprinters Tiffany Carto and Chavez Ajeday.
She said, however, she refused to let that dampen her spirits and instead used it as motivation to do her best, adding that though she was sent to represent her country she was not expected to “come back with anything.” But the powerhouse said she was motivated to perform well for her coach.
Straker will soon be sitting the 2010 CSEC examinations and she is hopeful that her academic achievements will be on a par with her athletic success. (Tamica Garnett)
