Junior meets still on for Williams – Boldon

T hough double World Under-20 sprint champion Briana Williams has declared her intent to run with the big girls at the World Championships in Doha this September, she fully intends to compete at the major junior championships this summer. Her coach, Ato Boldon, says Williams enjoys the team aspect of the sport and has two junior internationals pencilled into her competition schedule.

Speaking on June 5, Boldon said the 17-year-old national junior 100 and 200 metres record holder is eager to don the famous black-green-and-gold strip at the NACAC Under-18 & Under-23 Championships in Queretaro, Mexico, from July 5-7 and at the Pan-Am Junior Championships in San Jose, Puerto Rico, from July 19 to 20.

NEED NOT WORRY

Fans need not worry that she will miss potentially speedy Jamaican efforts in the Under-20 4x100 metres. In an explanation of her 3-gold-medal, Austin Sealy Award winning participation at the Carifta Games in April. "What she loves the most about Carifta is the team atmosphere, so when you say relay, I mean she's going to Pan-Am Juniors, she's going to NACAC Under-18, that's already set in the schedule," he said.

Boldon, a 200 metres World champion sprinter for Trinidad and Tobago in 1997, holds to his prediction that Jamaica could break the World junior record in the 4x100 metres relay. "If you look at Kiara and Briana and Kevona, they could really demolish that record," he said. He added that lowering the world mark of 43.27 seconds is a topic of repeated discussion between him and his young charge: "She's very eager to get involved."

Williams and Grant have been bouncing the national junior 100 metres records around between them. It had stood at 11.12 seconds to Veronica Campbell-Brown since 2000, but Grant, who runs in the United States for Norfolk State University, snipped a slice off on May 4 to move the mark of 11.11, only for Williams to go 11.10 seconds on June 1.

Grant, the former Alpha Academy ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Championships (Champs) gold medallist, accelerated to 11.04 seconds at the NCAA Championship 100 metres final in Austin, Texas, on June 8, only for Williams to regain the lead later the same day with a clocking of 11.02 seconds in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Davis ran 11.19 seconds to win the Class Two 100 metres at Champs.

In addition to Williams, Grant and Davis, Ashanti Moore of Hydel High sped 11.17 seconds to win her Champs Class One gold medal while Lanae-Tava Thomas, a University of Southern California athlete, has clocked 11.16 seconds.