Jamaicans start Junior Pan Am hunt
Published:Friday | July 19, 2019 | 12:17 AMAkino Ming/Staff Reporter
Briana Williams’ heroics at the National Senior Championships last month means that she will line up with the big girls at the IAAF World Championships in September.
But the fastest 17-year-old ever is still carrying out junior duties and is billed as the star attraction for the three-day Pan American Under-20 Athletics Championships, which gets under way today in San José, Costa Rica.
The 10.94 second sprinter will begin the quest to add the Pan Am Juniors 100 metres title to her accolades, with the preliminary round of the competition scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. start time.
Kemba Nelson, the Carifta Games Under-20 bronze medallist, is the other Jamaican entrant in the race.
Williams and Nelson should easily qualify for the final of the event, which is scheduled for 8:50 p.m., once they can keep their nerves, with their strongest competition expected to come from the American duo of Branee Presley and Thelma Davies, who are entering the meet with times of 11.19 and 11.25 seconds, respectively.
The Calabar High School pair of Michael Stephens and Oblique Seville along with Jamaica College’s Michali Everett will represent Jamaica in the men’s equivalent.
Seville, who won the Class One Boys’ Championships title with 10.13 seconds, has the fastest time going into the championships, but he will have to be at his best to stave off American Mathew Boling, who made headlines in the States after running a wind-assisted 9.97 seconds in April. The final of the race is scheduled for 9 p.m.
Ackera Nugent and Crystal Morrison will contest the heats of the women’s 100m hurdles at 11:15 a.m. while Akeem Cargill will contest the men’s equivalent at 11:35 a.m. Both finals are scheduled for 6:05 p.m. and 6:15 p.m., respectively.
The men’s and women’s 400 metres are also on the cards for today, with Shaqueena Foote and Anna-Kay Allen set to run the preliminary round for women event at 12 noon, while Anthony Cox and Bovel McPherson will face the starter at 12:30 p.m.
The finals for both races are scheduled for 6:25 p.m. and 6:35 p.m., respectively.