By Kino Cummings, TrackAlerts.com writer

The 2016 Olympic Games are on the horizon and Jamaica, a global powerhouse in track and field is stopping at nothing to maintain its dominance in the sprints in particular and to catch up with the world in the longer distances and field events. Thus, the JAAA All Comers Meet provides an avenue for all athletes to sharpen their skills.
 
Last Saturday’s staging, the fourth in a series of meets conducted by the JAAA, provided us with a further glimpse of the readiness, of some of the nation’s top athletes and some to come. 

The men’s 400m provided one of the few sparks of the meet, with the outstanding Christopher Taylor once again showing his mettle, in posting the fastest time of the evening, stopping the clock at 45.71 to win his heat ahead of Adiel VanWyk of the MVP track club, who clocked 46.21 seconds. Other notable performances came from Peter Matthews, unattached, 46.23 and Jaheel Hyde of Cameron Blazers,  showing he has good speed in the flat 400, clocking a creditable 46.75 seconds. 

The men’s 200m saw mediocre performances, with the only spark coming from heat 4, with Rasheed Dwyer of Sprintec,  winning in a time of 20.47 sec, ahead of Nigel Ellis of Steths 20.73 and Jason Young  of Racers 20.76, who finished second and third respectively. Mario Forsythe, also of Racers Track Club, won his heat in a time of 21.24 to win. 
The men’s 400m hurdles saw National Champion Ansert White, unattached, winning with the fastest time of all, in 49.95 seconds ahead of Andre Clarke, of GC Foster College, who posted 50.29 seconds. 

The men’s 100m was a far cry from that which we are used to, with the fastest time done for the evening, coming from a little known junior athlete from St. Jago High School,  Romario Thomas, who clocked a blistering 10.24 seconds in heat 7.Kimmari Roach 10.54 and Jevaughn Minzie,(???) both of Racers Track Club, were two of the other winners with creditable times. 

On the female side, it was much of the same in terms of performances, with Audra Segree of Sprintec providing the only spark of excitement, clocking 11.41 seconds to win the women’s 100m ahead of Shashalee Forbes of GC Foster, in a time of 11.48 and Jura Levy of Sprintec, in a time of 11.50 seconds.  St Jago’s Kimone Shaw also won her heat, in a time of 12.15 seconds. 

Patrice Moody of Edwin Allen won the 200m in a time of 24.22 seconds, ahead of Jessica Noble of the University of Technology in a time of 24.45 seconds. In the women 400m hurdles, Nikita Tracey of MVP Track Club, finished 2nd in her heat, in a time of 56.96 seconds, to Ronda Whyte of Sprintec who won in 56.75 seconds. In the second heat, Ristananna Tracey of Sprintec, crossed the line first, in a time of 55.81 seconds ahead of Danielle Dowie of MVP, who clocked 56. 50 seconds. 

With all things considered, meet 4 was the most tamed of the series where times are concerned. There were also creditable performances in the 800m for men, where Corville Senior of Irvin High won in 1.58.84, beating St. Jago’s Leon Mason into third, in a time of 2.01.52 seconds.

Decent competition was also in the field events section and some fair performances. However, by all accounts this was not the best of the 4 stagings this season. 

So, now its onto this weekend’s Racers Grand Prix Meet to give a true picture, as to what to expect in Rio, 2016. 

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