Brompton’s Jahrod Laird is champion schoolboy

Brompton Primary School’s Jahrod Laird was named champion boy at last Saturday’s 11th staging of the Western Primary Track and Field Championships at STETHS Sports Complex in Santa Cruz. Laird tallied 27 of the 72 points picked up by his school.

He won gold in the Class Five 100m, 200m, and long jump, which he took with a record leap of 5.47m. He also helped his team to a silver medal in the 4x100m.

Sasha Thompson, coach of Brompton, believes Laird has a bright future in track and field.

“We appreciate all that Jahrod has done for us in giving Brompton some amount of recognition. We know that he is going to go on to do well in track and field and we will continue to support him throughout,” Thompson said.

“I expect him to do very well (in the future). I know he doesn’t like the 200m; however, I expect him to break records in the future, whether at Boys Champs or wherever. I would hope that whoever coaches him in the long jump will let him continue to excel,” she added.

Thompson was most impressed with his record-breaking performance in the long jump because it is an event that she said he hardly trained for.

“Honestly, he is very disciplined. Being a sprinter, I decided that I was going to try him at long jump. It was a last-minute decision for him to try it at DA (JTA District Association meet) and although he never trained for it, he won it. He went on to compete in Kingston where he broke the record three times so, obviously, he was an excellent jumper without the training,” Thompson said.