By Treiston Joseph
Local sprinting phenomenon Stephan James once again placed himself atop the pecking order of junior sprinters with a dominating 200 metres performance yesterday at the National Under-23 Championships held at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary.
James got stuck in the turn as some of his competitors which included junior 100 metres champion, Chavez Ageday and sprinter Akeem Stewart, quickly closed the stagger on the turn.
However, as they turned for the homestretch, James moved up another gear to blow the field away leaving daylight between him and the second-place finisher Ageday while Sewlyn Foster (James’ Club mate) ran a fast back stretch of his own to claim the third spot.
James clocked 21.2s while Ageday placed second in 21.5s. Foster rounded out the top three with a time of 21.9s.
In the female under-23 200 metres, Neisa Allen was equally impressive breaking the 25s barrier by clocking 24.6s to leave Letitia Myles, who recently returned to the track after a five-month hiatus in second place with a time of 25.4s. Akele Alves was third in a time of 26.5s.
Two-time 1500 metres CARIFTA gold medalist Jevina Straker also dominated the field in the 1500 metres event winning the race in a time of 5:14.0s leaving the second place finisher in Tisha Grimes some distance behind in a time of 5:53.2s.
The men’s under-23 1500 metres was full of thrills as Tyshon Bentick went out well to hold the lead up to the final 100 metres when Devon Barrington, who was trailing, unleashed his sprinting power to win the event in a time of 4:13.4s. Bentick clocked 4:14.8s. Ornesto Thomas was third in a time of 4:27.5s.
In the youth (under-18) 100 metres, Tevin Garraway exploded out of the blocks using his drive face to perfection to clock his personal best time of 10.6s to win the event ahead of Kevin Abbensets in a time of 10.9s.
Former national schools’ champion Deja Smartt returned to some relevance after suffering two years of injury with a 12.2s performance to win the female youth 100 metres ahead of Shoquan Daniels who clocked in at 12.6s while Tirana Mitchell took third in 12.8s.
Joint Services javelin champion Leslain Baird threw away the men’s under-23 javelin with a throw of 59.35 metres to win the event. Julio Sinclair known more for his shot put prowess was second with a throw of 41.41 metres.
Local jumper Cindy Fraser was a terror in the pit winning the under-23 long jump with a leap of 5.28 metres to leave Juanita Hooper trailing in second with a jump of 5.21 metres.
Ageday will be looking for some redemption today in the men’s under-23 100 metres final after clocking an easy 10.7s in his heats yesterday.
The 2009 Inter-Guiana Games 400 metres gold medalist Delon DeAbreu was the winner of the next heat in the men’s under-23 100 metres with a time of 10.6s.
James is also expected to go for a double today in the men’s under-23 400 metres which is his pet event when the competition continues at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary from 10:30hrs.
Caption: James separates himself from the field to take the men’s under-23 200 metres in a dominating fashion. (Orlando Charles photo)
Caption: Neisa Allen (extreme left) clearly runs away with the female under-23 200 metres ahead of her competitors yesterday. (Orlando Charles photo)
