Wolmer’s banking on Class 3s

Wolmer’s Boys’ School’s head coach, Orville Brown, says he is banking on the institution’s Class 3 athletes to deliver strong performances at this year’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs).

The Champs, which will see the country’s top junior athletes matching strides over five days, will be held at the National Stadium from March 24–28.

Brown said that a number of promising athletes in the Class 3 have shown encouraging form throughout the development meets this season.

Ajani Lumley, Joshua McWilliams, Donovan James, and Kaden Levemore have all performed well in the sprint events and are expected to play a key role for the Heroes Circle-based school in Class 3.

Anthony Cook and Kabiki Thomas, who will compete in Class 1, are also among the athletes expected to contribute significantly to the team’s effort.

“I think that everybody knows where we are likely to make an impact at Champs this year, based on the results from the development meets this season,” Brown said.

“I think we are fairly solid in Class 3, particularly across the sprints and relays, and hopefully we can deliver on the talents that we have in that group and make an impact on Champs in that regard. We have other areas that have people who have been doing fairly well and will make some impact in those areas as well.”

Wolmer’s finished sixth at last year’s championships with 66.75 points, but Brown noted that the team is aiming to surpass that tally this season.

“We do intend to score more points than we did at Champs last year, which was 66.75 points,” he noted.

“We finished sixth at Champs last year, and I think if we achieved the points target that we think we are capable of achieving, then we expect that we will be in the top five at Champs this year.”

Brown also added that preparations have gone well overall despite a few minor setbacks this season.

“The preparations have been fairly good, and just like anybody else, we have had some niggles here and there that we have to be managing. But the team, by and large, I would say is 80 per cent or more healthy, and therefore we should be able to do well enough at Champs,” he said.

According to the veteran coach, morale within the camp remains high, even as athletes deal with the natural pressure of team selection.

“The mood in the camp is fairly high and naturally, there is anxiety because some of them are worrying whether they are going to make the team or not, but the mood is quite good,” Brown explained.

“There are a couple of things that we have been trying to change in terms of the culture in the last few years, and we are beginning to turn the corner with some things now. I think that if the boys turn up in the right frame of mind and deliver, then they should be quite okay.”