KINGSTON, Jamaica – John Mills remain the team to catch heading into the final day of the 39th INSPORTS All-Age & Junior High Athletics Championships at the National Stadium East field.
At the end of day two, the 22 times champions are still sitting atop the points table on 205.5 points; 19.5 more points ahead of defending champions Windward Road who are within striking distance with 186 points.
Constant Spring, with 93 points, also maintained their third-placed position in the table, but Swallowfield (68) moved up one place into fourth, dislodging Cockburn Gardens who on 67 points.
Calabar (55), New Day (51) and Shortwood Practising (40) all managed to score points on the penultimate day.
Last year, both Windward Road and John Mills went into the final day locked on points, before the former romped home to secure a third straight title.
This time, the battle is expected to be closer and a large crowd of supporters either side is anticipated for the event which is FREE to the public.
On the track the 200m finals brought much excitement with Constant Springs’ Antonio Phillips capturing the Class One boys’ gold medal in 24.04 seconds. Silver went to Calabar’s Raheim Hamilton (24.31) of Calabar, while John Mills’ Jaheim Gilmore (24.46) of John Mills took home the bronze.
It was a tight finish in the Class Two boys’ 200m final with New Day’s Royon Mais (25.64) edging Bob Fisher (25.65) of Swallowfield and Horatio Brown (25.98) of Calabar.
Zorna Douglas of Windward Road did just enough to hold off teammate Jessica McDonald to win gold in the Class One girls’ 200m final. Douglas stopped the clock in 28.20 seconds, with McDonald crossing the line in 28.32.
Swallowfield’s Damarley Hussey threw 10.06 metres to seal victory in the boys’ shot put Open, while Khaliah Cooke of MICO Practising won the Class Two girls long jump with a mark of 4.50 metres. The Class One boys high jump title went to Calabar’s Jerome Mason, who cleared the bar at 1.75m, ahead of Anthony Henry (1.70m) of Windward Road and Cockburn Gardens’ Jahvanie Percy (1.70m).
The Windward Road/John Mills duel continued in the 800m. John Mills finished one-two in the Class One boys’ 800m final, as Antonio Hylton struck gold in a time of two minutes 18.55 seconds ahead of training partner Shemar Dillon, who clocked two minutes 19.11 second.
Shanice Benjamin gave John Mills gold in the girls 800m Open, after recording two minutes 44.54 seconds, beating Shieed Christopher (2:51.22) of Constant Spring.
