The 5th Wata Central Junior Schools Classic was launched on Thursday, March 13, at the Bethabara Primary School in Knockpatrick, Manchester. The launch also featured the presentation of running gears, sneakers and spikes to the school.
Meet organizer and Olympian Deon Hemmings-McCatty said that the meet will take place on Saturday April 12 starting at 9:00 am at Kirkvine Sports Club in the parish.
The event is the second development meet on the prep school calendar and the only one to be held outside of the corporate area. Since the inception a number of primary schools have been invited to participate in it. It will feature the sprints starting with the 50M and longer distances up to 400M, relays in the 4x100M and 4x200M plus long jump as the only field event.
The schools that have confirmed so far are Vaz Prep, El Instituto, Knox Junior School, Mt. St. Joseph Prep, Mt. Alvernia Prep, Belair Prep and Yabnel Prep in Mandeville which will be present for the first time this year, as well as Bethabara Primary School.
Several athletes who competed in this meet are doing well at the secondary school level. they include Jaheel Hyde – 2013 World Youth 110M Hurdles champion, Sidney Marshall – Carifta Trials Under 18 100M Hurdles champion, Coby Simpson, Kimberly Leech and Andre Wellington.
Hemmings-McCatty said that the organizers were happy to see the growth of the meet over the years which had good support from prep schools across the island. She said further that the participation of several primary schools had helped to cement a good relationship among the schools. They were happy to present gears, sneakers and spikes to Bethabara Primary who had participated over the years but had a definite need in for the items. The gears were produced by Western Sports at a discounted cost.
Melissa LueYen of title sponsor Wata endorsed the staging of the meet while saying that her company Wisynco through the brand Wata was serious about sports development and specifically track and field at the early stage as it was good for Jamaica. This will be Wata's third time sponsoring the meet. Their hydration brand Powerade will be on board as well.
JISA representative and principal of El Instituto, Dr. Faithlyn Wilson congratulated the organizers for taking the bold move to stage the meet which had grown significantly since it started in 2009. She said that athletes from the prep schools had contributed to Jamaica's success through sports and that the meet really helped to prepare the young athletes for Prep Champs later in the season.
The sponsors this year are Wata, Digicel, Pediasure, Best Bressed Chicken, COK, Puma, and Singer.
