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The race for top honours in the Class One 100 metres intensified last Saturday courtesy of Kingston College’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie and Deandre Daley of Herbert Morrison Technical. Bouwahjgie clocked the fastest Jamaican time of the season – 10.40 seconds – at the Corporate Area Championships, and Daley confirmed his good form in 10.59 seconds at St Elizabeth Technical during last Saturday’s Western Championships. They join sprint prospects Brian Levell of Edwin Allen High, St Catherine High’s Sandrey Davison, and Gregory Prince of St Jago High as contenders for glory at Boys and Girls’ Championships next month.
Record holder Zharnel Hughes will be watching closely.
In front of attentive fans at the National Stadium last Saturday, Bouwahjgie used his usual fast start to slash the meet record of 10.45 seconds by his Kingston College teammate Rashaun Rowe in 2020. In Santa Cruz, Daley mirrored his seasonal best of 10.56 seconds with his victory on grass at Western Championships.
Championships final
Nkrumie and Levell, who attends Edwin Allen High School, were third and fifth, respectively in the 2021 Boys and Girls’ Championships Class One 100m final. Later in the season, Levell clocked 10.21 and reached the National Senior Championships final.
With the 2021 championships gold and silver medallists, Sachin Dennis and Antonio Watson, gone, the gold medal beckons.
Davison, a lanky athlete, and Prince won their individual 100 metres heats at last month’s Sprint Fest in 10.59 and 10.70 seconds, respectively. On February 26, Prince ran a devastating 4x100m anchor leg for St Jago High School at the Gibson McCook Relays.
All of the contenders will meet at the March 11-13 Carifta Trials, except Prince, who turns 20 this year, and the St Jago closer will face Davison and Levell at Central Championships, March 15 and 16.
National under-20 100m champion last year, Davison wasn’t picked to run the event at the World Under-20 Championships, where Levell and Alicke Cranston were eliminated at the semi-final stage, where Levell false-started.
A major clash on February 12 at the Camperdown Classic fizzled. Levell won in 10.46 seconds, but Prince stopped at the halfway point due to a cramp.
The battle might even pull the Boys and Girls’ Championships record of 10.12 seconds into reach. “I look forward to seeing who can contest the record. When I ran the record, to be honest, I wasn’t even thinking of the record. I just wanted to win against (Jevaughn) Minzie, (Michael) O’Hara, and those guys,” said Hughes, who clocked 10.12 seconds in 2014 running for Kingston College.
In 2019, the British sprint star saw Oblique Seville go close at 10.13. “I was like, what?! He almost got it, you know. I was excited for him at the same time,” recalled the 2018 European Champion.
“I’d like to see it come down sometime, but I know it’s going to be a challenging one, and I’m looking forward to seeing who will take it down,” Hughes added sportingly.
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