Top schools heading to East Coast International

Edwin Allen High School sprinter Bryan Levell and Hydel High's Brianna Lyston have both been confirmed to participate in the inaugural staging of the East Coast International Showcase Championships next month.

The meet, which has also attracted some of the island's top high-school runners from Jamaica and the United States, will be held on May 7 at the Prince George Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland.

Along with Levell and Lyston, Edwin Allen's boys' team, St Jago High's boys and girls, Excelsior High boys and girls, Hydel's girls, and Calabar High School will also be competing at the meet.

Olympic 4x400m relay silver medallist Sanjay Ayre, the chief organiser of the meet, said it will expose the country's junior athletes to top high-school competition in the United States.

"The aim of this meet is to create opportunities for our Jamaican athletes," Ayre said. "I see where we need to continue our development for our junior programmes and this will give the athletes another opportunity to compete on the international stage against good US high-school competition," he said.

Ayre said that the events that will be contested at the meet are the boys' and girls' 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and all the hurdles, throws, and jumps events.

Leon Powell, coach of Levell, the Carifta Boys' Under-20 200m champion, said his athlete will be competing the 100m at the championships. He also said Delano Kennedy, who won the Boys' Under-20 400m at the Carifta Games, will run in his pet event at the championships.

"This is a next part of their development and it is out of the country," Powell said. "So they will be exposed to some other athletes in their respective events.

"I am expecting them to represent themselves and school well because this is outside of the country and it will be different weather and different conditions for them to compete in."