Spotlight on Northern Champs this Saturday
Published:Thursday | January 24, 2019 | 12:00 AMRaymond Graham
Top high school teams from Central Jamaica will take the spotlight on Saturday as the second staging of the Northern Track and Field Championships will take place at the Grizzly’s Plantation Cove Sports Complex in Priory, St Ann. Speaking at a recent press conference, chairman of the organising committee, 1996 Olympic Games 400 metres hurdles champion, Deon Hemmings-McCatty, said, “the Northern Championships creates a terrific opportunity to increase our focus on breaking barriers and honing skills among our high schools in St Ann, St Mary, and Trelawny.”
She added: “Our motto is indicative of the impact we intend to have on young athletes in this region.
We look forward to welcoming all 27 high school teams from the region to this one-day championships and anticipate the friendly and lively competition that it will inspire among our local teams.” Olympian Vilma Charlton will be this year’s special honuoree at the meet.
A year ago, only 11 schools participated, and Hemmings-McCatty stated that members of her committee and title sponsor Island Dairy visited schools from the region to get their support.
Visits
“Livingstone Binns from Island Dairy along with Olympian Marvin Anderson and I visited the respective schools, and they were very receptive and were happy for a championships of their own,” she said. Both Hemmings-McCatty and Anderson are past students of the region. Hemmings-McCatty attended York Castle High before moving on to Vere Technical while Anderson went to William Knibb High before entering St Jago High in sixth form.
St Mary High, Marymount High, and St Mary Technical of St Mary; Brown’s Town High and Ocho Rios High of St Ann along with Perth Town Academy and William Knibb of Trelawny are among the schools down to compete at the meet, which will begin at 9 a.m.
St Mary High are expected to be the top school at the meet. At the recent Douglas Forrest Invitational Development at G.C. Foster College, their female team shared the spotlight with powerhouse Hydel High.