Dunkley, Blake to make pro debuts at On Di Run

FORMER ST Elizabeth Technical High School athletes Javorne Dunkley and Shamer Blake will make their professional debut at tomorrow’s On Di Run Sprint FEST 200-metre meet at Jamaica College, which begins at 2 p.m.

On Di Run, the brainchild of meet manager Wayne Long, is a prelude to the Pure Water/R. Danny Williams Jamaica College Development meet, which will be held at the same venue the following day.

Dunkley and Blake, who performed well for St Elizabeth Technical in 2023, have joined their former high school coach, Reynaldo Walcott, at Elite Performance Track Club. Both had another season of high-school eligibility.

Dunkley, who was second in the Class 1 200 metres at the GraceKennedy/ISSA Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships and at the Carifta Games in The Bahamas in the under-20 event, won the under-20 sprint double at the National Junior Championships, posting a personal best 20.74 seconds in the 200 metres.

Blake landed the 400-metre hurdles Class 1 title champs in 50.76 seconds.

Both will be joined in the men’s open 200 metres tomorrow by the New Era Track Club duo of Paul Henry and Andre Harris.

Calabar High School’s Nickeroy Bramwell will lead the participants in Class 2, where the likes of Ajani Thompson of Camperdown, Timothy Purrier of Kingston College, and Ray J. Reece of St Jago will be his main rivals.

Several members of ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships title holders, Hydel High School, will also be on show.

Hydel will be led in Class 1 Girls, by Aaliah Baker and Abbigail Campbell, while in Class 2, Shemonique Hazle and Olivia St John will lead their charge. Sashana Johnson and Jada Irons will compete in Class 3.

There will also be three field events that were originally scheduled to take place at Saturday’s Pure Water R. Danny Williams meet.

According to meet organiser Ian Forbes, two throwing events, the discus and the javelin, will be held on Friday, and the triple jump, a late addition to the programme, will also be held.