A weekend of hits and near misses
This past weekend, while Vincentians at home were continuing to deal with the fallout of the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano, several athletes were busy proving the Vincy mettle to be strong and overcoming. In various meets held in the region and the United States, they broke national records, qualified for international competitions, or just barely missed doing so.
Eighteen year old Handal Roban led the way, competing for Jamaica College, in Kingston Jamaica. The 6th Former ran in the Class 1 Boys 1500m in the JAAA Qualification Series on Friday, where he finished second, in a time of 3 mins, 56.99 seconds. His time broke the national U20 Boys record of 4:03.56, which was set in 2016 by Desroy Jordan, at the Carifta Games. The time also earned him a Carifta qualification, beating the standard of 4:04.00s.
It was the second great run within a week for Handal, who had on Tuesday, ran an 800m, where he again finished in 2nd place, with a run of 1:50.30s. That was not only another national U20 record and Carifta qualification, but he also qualified for the World Junior Championships, which are slated for Nairobi, Kenya, from Aug 17th to 22nd. His 800m time put him on the list of Carifta qualifiers along with Romar Stapleton, who had qualified for the U20 Boys 100m, and Xaria Bascombe, in the U17 Girls 100m previously
Also setting a national U20 Boys record was Uroy Ryan, in the Long Jump. Uroy, who is also at Jamaica College, along with Handal and Romar is in Form 4, and had twice before, jumped further than the 7.10m record held by Kevin Bailey. Unfortunately, both occasions registered wind readings of over the legal 2.0 mps, with one being as little as 0.1 over the limit. On Friday however, the elements were on his side, when he jumped 7.33m to win the event, with no wind being recorded. 7.10m was not only the national record, but was also the Carifta U20 Boys standard.
Wind played a part, once again, to deny triple jumper Mikeisha Welcome, a national record. A Freshman at the University of Oklahoma, Mikeisha took part in the John Jacobs Invitational at her school’s complex in Norman, Oklahoma, where she won the event with a distance of 13.60m. But with a wind reading of 2.2mps, it was not a legal mark that would trouble her own 13.57m record, which she set earlier this year.
Competing along with Mikiesha on the U.S. Collegiate circuit, was University of Arkansas Senior, Shafiqua Maloney. She commanded national track attention when she broke the 800m women’s indoor record twice this year. She then stepped onto the outdoor track and repeated the feat, when she toppled the 28 year old 2:11.93 Women’s 800m outdoor record of Bigna Samuel, finishing 3rd at the Tom Jones Invitational at the University of Florida on April 16th, in 2:02.54.
This weekend she set her sights on the national 400m record held by Kineke Alexander-Stay, of 51.23, but only managed a 52.27. She had previously come close to the record, when she ran 51.72 at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on March 26th.
