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BURNABY, BC – Photo finishes and relay woes dominated the Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic Friday night as Canada prevailed over China 67-58 to win the Pacific World Cup dual meet portion of the international competition.
The 24th annual Jerome meet, held in balmy, late-spring conditions at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium, marked the third year Canada and China have engaged in a limited dual meet for the Pacific World Cup as part of the larger Jerome meet that also includes other international participants. For the third consecutive year Canada proved best, this year over a Chinese team made up of athletes primarily from southeastern provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang.
The Canadian side was led with victories by Genevieve Thibault of Val Belair, Que., in the women’s 100 metres ( 11.99), Anson Henry of Pickering, Ont., in the men’s 100 metres (10.39) and Saskatoon’s Kelsie Hendry in women’s pole vault (4.20m).
China-SE point leaders included a win by Wang Qingbo in men’s javelin (73.96m) and Song Jian (7.57m) in men’s long jump.
The International Association of Athletics Federations had designated the meet as a relay qualifying event for the upcoming Pan-American Games and World Championships in Osaka but all four Canadian squads missed the opportunity to make the standards. The Canadian women’s 4x400-metre relay team of Esther Akinsulie, Carline Muir, Erica Broomfield and Lauren Siebel won the event in a meet record 3:36.67 but the effort was well off Athletics Canada’s World Championship and Pan-Am “A” standard of 3:29.00.
The Canadian women’s 4x100-metre relay team of Teneshia Peart, Genevieve Thibault, Erica Broomfield and Billie Whitegibson also won its race in 45.58, short of the “A” standard 43.50.
The women’s 4x400 team was also hampered by losing Halifax speedster Adrienne Power, who could not travel to the meet after developing a serious infection from a cat bite on her hand.
“This might have been our last chance, we’ll try to find another race if we can to get standard but it’s tough,” remarked 4x400 lead runner Akinsulie. “We were all hoping for standard and there was a good chance we could get it. I think we need to have more opportunities for us to come out as a team and run together. Right now this is just our second time this year being together and our second chance to run standard.”
Both Canadian men’s relay squads suffered passing problems, with the 4x100 foursome of Shannon King, Neville Wright, Emanuel Parris and Justin McLennan disqualified after officials ruled an exchange took place outside the official zone. Meantime, the 4x400 crew of Brian Barnett, Nathan Vadeboncoeur, Adam Kunkel and Tyler Christopher appeared within striking distance of standard when a sloppy final exchange slowed Kunkel and Christopher and dashed all chance.
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Armstrong And Abdulai Impress With Jerome Performances
Dylan Armstrong’s grin said it all: “There’s more where that came from.”
The 26-year-old shot putter from Kamloops had a mile-wide smile at Swangard Stadium Friday night after winning the shot put at the 24th annual Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic with a personal best 20.72 metres. His previous best was 20.62 metres tossed in 2006.
“I’ve been looking for a PB for a while,” said Armstrong, whose effort Friday night placed his among the world’s top 10 names in men’s shot put this season. “Things have been coming together for me a little bit better. My main goal this year was to get standard for Pan-Am Games and World Championships and also to stay consistently over 20 metres.”
Prior to 2004 Armstrong was best known in Canada as a hammer thrower. He was a silver medallist at the 2000 world junior championships and won the national hammer throw title from 2000 to 2002. In 2006 he won the Canadian shot put title with a 19.13 effort.
“As a shot putter I’m fairly new to the event, I’ve been concentrating on it for about three years now -- two years under coach Anatoly Bondarchuk and he’s taken me to the next level,” said Armstrong. “I give 100 per cent credit to him for getting me there. But there’s a lot more, I feel I have a lot more to get out there.”
While Armstrong was tossing the shot farther than he ever had before Simon Fraser University standout Ruky Abdulai was next door in the high jump pit proving once again she is an athlete to watch now and in the future. Abdulai, who recently was named top female athlete at the NAIA championships in Fresno after winning the high jump, long jump and 400 metres, won the Jerome meet women’s high jump with a leap of 1.83 metres.
Abdulai, 21, was born in Ghana and came to Canada to study at SFU three years ago. She is hoping to obtain her Canadian citizenship in time to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. To that end she has set before her an interesting goal – to become the first athlete to compete in the long jump and 400 metres at an Olympic Games. She only recently began working on the one-lap sprint and her winning long jump of 6.70 metres at the recent NAIA championships would have been a Canadian record if she had citizenship. The current mark of 6.66 metres was set by Nicole Devonish in 1996.
“You see athletes competing in the 100 and long jump but the 400 is a much longer sprint and you don’t see them pairing it with the long jump,” said Abdulai. “But I would like to try that.”
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“I missed it, it definitely cost us a good half a second,” lamented Christopher, Canadian men’s 400-metre record holder, after the relay team’s bungled pass translated into a 3:04.01 winning time. “But it was a solid effort. We all ran solid splits.”
Despite the home country team’s relay problems the meet, held annually in honour of the late Canadian sprinter Harry Jerome, served up some exciting races and strong individual performances. Dylan Armstrong, from Kamloops, B.C., unleashed a personal best 20.72 metres to win the men’s shot put while Irish sprinter Joanne Cuddihy ran away with the women’s 200 metres in 23.80 seconds. American Mike Mitchell, who had a strong early season 20.33 to his credit, sped to victory in the men’s 200 metres with a 20.84 effort.
The women’s 800 metres proved the most exciting clash of the night with Rebecca Johnstone of Bowen Island, B.C., outfinishing Victoria rival Aimee Teteris to win in 2:03.60. Teteris was an eyelash behind in 2:03.61.
“This meet is so important, you need to get in good races and to win here is excellent,” said Johnstone. “You need not only to race but to race against great runners, that’s when the fast times come, when you’re trying to get to the finish line first. I just got there today.”
American Antwon Hicks also prevailed in the men’s 110-metre hurdles, winning in 13.61 with compatriot Linnie Yarbrough just behind in 13.75.
“This is my first time here and I’m glad I came,” said 24-year-old Hicks, the 2002 world junior champion who recently set a personal best of 13.42. “I was looking for a couple of quality meets to get ready for our U.S. championships. I didn’t feel all that fast in the warm-up and 13.61 is a bit slower than I wanted but I’ll take it.”
Canadian record holder Tabia Charles and China’s Qui Huijing capped the night’s field events by waging a spirited battle in the women’s triple jump. Charles won with a 13.40-metre effort with Qui taking second in 13.31.
Complete results are avilable from the website at: HarryJerome.com.
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