THE LOUIS LYNCH CHAMPIONSHIPS turned out to be a happy hunting ground for Shamar Rock yesterday.
With a leap of 7.43 metres in the long jump, the 18-year-old Rising Stars athlete not only qualified for this year’s CARIFTA GAMES in Martinique, but also for the Central American and Caribbean Championships (CAC) in Mexico.
The achievement came exactly one week after he also met the CARIFTA standard for the triple jump during last weekend’s Relay Fair, and was just .12 metres short of the qualifying standard for the World Junior Championships.
“I feel really good to have qualified because last year at the CARIFTA Games I didn’t make it to the finals and I was really disappointed,” Rock told SUNSPORT after winning the event.
“This will be my last year at CARIFTA, so I’m really looking to win a gold medal so that I can go out with a bang.”
Despite being pleased at Rock’s achievement, his coach Alwyn Babb, insisted that the former Lester Vaughan student still had work to do.
He said qualifying for both CARIFTA and CAC was just the first step.
“Once you have met the standard for CARIFTA and the meets under the World Juniors, we are now working on winning the gold medal at CARIFTA.
“So we’ve now passed the first hurdle and it means that Shamar now has to increase his training….because he needs some elastic strengthening as we have identified that as a problem,” Babb outlined.
Rock’s leap was the highlight of an otherwise low-keyed opening session, which saw the track events being delayed by almost two hours due to some problems with the photo finish camera.
Elite Distance’s Ashley Williams, who has already qualified for CARIFTA, continued her dominance in the Under-20 girls’ shot put, easily winning with a throw of 12.92 metres.
Williams’ attempt was over three metres further than second-placed Winmalicia Bowen of Springer (9.75m), while Dayna Francis was third with a throw of 9.63 metres.
Romario Antoine’s winning throw of 44.01 in the Under-20 boys’ discus was well short of the CARIFTA mark of 48.50, as was Under-18 winner Nathan Ellis of St Leonard’s, whose throw was measured at 36.88, some way off the 44.50m required.
Springer’s Shonte Seale won the Under-18 girls high jump after clearing 1.60 metres, short of the required 1.70 for CARIFTA. Both second placed Yuriko Yearwood and Demeisha King cleared 1.55 metres.
