Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
CALVERT
JAMAICA HAD mixed fortunes on the opening day of the fourth IAAF/Maroc Telecom World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, Morocco, yesterday.
The pride and joy of the Jamaican team, Schillonie Calvert, made it through to the final of the girls' 100 metres in a time of 11.57 after posting a personal best of 11.40 in the heats.
However, Latoya King's 11.99 wasn't good enough to get her into the final after she finished seventh in her semi-final.
Yohan Blake qualified for the boys' 100 metres final after finishing second in his semi in a time of 10.73 behind Keston Bledman of Trinidad, but Cawayne Jervis failed to follow in his footsteps after placing sixth in a time of 10.75 seconds.
MORE DISAPPOINTMENT
That wasn't Jamaica's only source of disappointment, as Oshane Barham finished just out of the running for a semi-final spot in the boys' 400 metres with a fourth-place finish in his heat and a time of 50.32 seconds.
On the bright side, Teo Bennett did well to earn a place in that semi-final with a third-place finish in his heat. Bennett's time was 48.85 seconds, which placed him behind Tristan Garrett of Australia and Samuel Egadu of Uganda.
In the girls' 400 metres, Shakeeri Cole qualified for the semis with a second-place finish in her heat in 55.62, while Bobby-Gaye Wilkins did one better as she won her heat in 54.78.
In the boys' 800 metres, Theon O'Connor remained true to form in making it to the semi-finals in a time of 1:53.86 seconds, finishing third in his heat behind Shaka Ntsimako of Botswana and Sebastian Keiner of Germany.
Kimona Smith and Kimberly Williams found it tough going in the triple jump with the latter going out with a best leap of 12.32 metres.
Smith clung on to the last qualifying position of her group with her final jump of 12.59 metres.
In the 110 hurdles, Jamaica will not have a finalist as
Andre Collins and Keiron Stewart went out, finishing sixth and seventh in the semis respectively.
