Champs 101- Day One

Ristananna Tracey - doing her best to ensure Edwin Allen wins Girls' Champs

Ristananna Tracey of Edwin Allen High School has breezed through her heat in the 400m hurdles to seal her place in the next round of the event.

"It was pretty easy I just came out here to do enough to qualify," she said. Now that she has qualified for the 400m, Tracey now has her mind set on the 800m and the 4 x 400m relay.

Ristananna and her sister Nikita Tracey dominated the events they entered last year, with Nikita winning the 400m hurdles while her little sister placed second. Now that Nikita is away at college, she is set for the gold.

Eighteen year old Ristananna shared her view on what inspires her to keep fit and give optimum performance on the track. "I am motivated to do athletics because of the experience I get a there are rewards financially and otherwise, and knowing that my team is depending on me to do my best."

Added to that, she revealed that she wants Edwin Allen to take home the title for the Girls' Championships, and she will be doing her best to ensure that the dream becomes a reality.

Sabina Allen jumps her way to victory - Vere Technical triple jumper takes gold

Sabina Allen (centre)

Despite her best efforts last year, Sabina Allen did not make the finals of the triple jump finals at the GraceKennedy Annual Boys' and Girls' Championships.

But with determination, she redoubled her efforts to tackle the event head on for Champs 101 and to get the coveted gold medal. She did just that.

Allen improved her jump from 11.11 last year to win the triple jump finals at 12.36m, the end, she even surprised herself. "I'm really astonished," she said. "I'm pretty surprised that I made such a big jump."

Furthermore, Allen added that she knew making 12m was possible, but nothing inside her told her she would get a double glory- a gold medal with a finish that left her filled with pride, and almost speechless.

Young female athletes work hard to master their running skills and makes their mark

Even though this is her first year performing at the Annual Boys’ and Girls’ Championships, Sherice Brown of Edwin Allen High found her first race quite easy as she crossed the finish line of the 200m class four.

With eyes set on the first place gold medal, Brown knows she has much ground to cover to beat the likes of Keisha Smith (Holmwood Technical), Junelle Bromfield and Santanya Wright (St, Elizabeth Technical High) who clocked the best times for the season.

Not that Brown is worrying, because she has already figure out what to do- run the curve properly. Like her, Safiya Thompson who is also performing at Champs for the first time agrees that mastering the curve has a lot to do with winning the race.

“My race was challenging but I need to just make the curve. I want to make my family proud,” said Thompson, a resident of Waterhouse.

A section of the crowd on Day One of Champs 101

Aiming for the stars- Sanjay Pantry plots victory for three gold medals

Between sharp breaths, Sanjay Pantry expressed satisfaction and pride after qualifying for the 800m class one event on day one of Champs 101.

He was quick to point out that he has more energy to unleash, and hopes it will be good enough to catapult him to win two additional events, the 1500m and the newly introduced Steeple Chase Open.

Pantry who hails from Clarendon said he is the brother of Jodi-Ann Pantry who placed in the top spot one of the recent Rising Stars competitions. Like his sister, Pantry is aiming for success and has high hopes of taking home three gold medals this year.

He has the highest time for the 2000m Steeple Chase Open 6:10:09 ahead of his teammate W. Chung and J. Hall both had times of 6:18:24 and 6:24: 22 respectively.

"I trained hard, I believe in myself and my coach and family member believe in me so I know I can do it," he said.

Travis Smikle takes early lead in Discus Class 1

Calabar’s Travis Smikle has shown continued excellence in the Discus throw following on his ding dong battle at Champs 100 with fellow teammate and competitor Chad Wright in 2010. At Champs 100, the duo broke the record several times much to the excitement of the crowd at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Here at Champs 101, Smikle has taken an early lead in the qualifiers of the event, leading the pack with a throw of 54.89mq. If he continues on his mark, it might not be beat the 58.86mq Champs record that was set by Wright last year. The Calabar team has much potential to medal, as another student Fredrick Dacres holding second place at – 48.82mq, ahead of Rajae Gayle of Munro College who has 48.32mq

Discus Throw- Class 1 Boys Top 14 Qualifiers

Travis Smikle – Calabar High – 54.89mq
Fedrick Dacres – Calabar High – 48.82mq
Rajae Gayle – Munro College- 48.32mq
Shaquille Lewis—Jamaica College – 43.01mq
Kashif Ford – Jamaica College – 41.84mq
Jeffery King – St. Jago High 40.56mq
Jason Cross – Wolmers’ Boys – 39.56mq
Fabeon, Tucker – Edwin Allen High—38.99mq
Raschane Cunningham – Kingston College—38.84mq
Roderick Campbell—St. Jago High—38.75mq
Emmanuel Onyia – Munro College –38.33mq
Chadwick DaCosta -- Kingston College – 38.13
Nicholas Nathan –Petersfield High – 37.42mq
Carlington Sinclair – Manchester High –36.29