Cameron expects noise from St Jago at Champs
Technical Director of the boys' programme, Bertland Cameron, is anticipating the Spanish Town-based St Jago High School young members upsetting the applecart at the March 28-April 1 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships (Champs) as they build for the future.
Cameron, who is in charge of the quarter-mile athletes, predicts St Jago will once again finish in the top four like last year, when they placed a creditable fourth in the boys' section of Champs with 147 points, 23 behind third-placed Calabar.
"We have a very young team as we are on a three-year building process, but we will make some noise," Cameron said.
According to Cameron, his boys are motivated after demolishing their opponents at the recent Central Athletics Championships, where they scored a whopping 346 points, well ahead of nearest rivals Edwin Allen's 178.
Champions in 1987 and 1993, Cameron is confident of a good showing from his troops at Champs, despite hiccups in their early preparation.
"We had a serious issue with our early preparation as we had no training facility at the school, as we had to do so by nearby Rivoli football field because of upgrading work on our field. Thanks to past athlete Davion Spence, who resides in Florida, we now have an excellent surface to continue our preparation, and this augers well going forward," stated Cameron, the 1986 Helsinki World Championships 400 metres champion.
"Last year, we were really competitive, and, at one stage, we were in third position. We are confident that we will make some noise at Champs, despite heavyweight teams like Kingston College, Jamaica College and Calabar, as we are not fazed by these top teams, as we have a few warriors who will make their presence felt.
"We are investing in our young athletes, as our Classes III and IV did well at the Gibson-McCook Relays. The future looks very good for us, and with help from Spence and a few other past students, including John Leiba, we are very positive that sooner than later we will be challenging for the title," Cameron said.
He argues that several athletes have been doing well, including hurdlers Romario Jibbison, Marquis Page, Demario Prince and Javaughn Pinnock. At Central Champs, Page, Prince and Pinnock were record breakers in 100 metres hurdles Class III, 110 metres hurdles Class I and 400 metres hurdles, respectively.
Cameron also highlighted Corlando Chambers and Alex Taylor in the Class I boys' 800 and 1,500 metres, and Shaiquan Dunn in the shot put Class I, as athletes he believes will make their mark at this year's Champs.