Wolmer’s Boys – Slow and steady wins the race
By Dania Bogle
Wolmer’s Boys School last won the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) Boys’ Championship title in 2010 after more than half a century in the wilderness, and since then there has been a lot of humour surrounding their ability to win another title for another 54 years.
While the school finished fourth behind Calabar, Jamaica College, and Kingston College in 2013, coach Christopher Harley isn’t focused on the title right now, but making an impression in the individual events.
This year’s ‘Champs’ standouts Christoff Bryan, who set a record in the Boys Class One high jump (2.19m), and Jaheel Hyde, who claimed a silver in the class two boys 400m (46.93), will be back for 2014.
Both boys medalled at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine – Hyde took gold in the boys 110m hurdles in a Championship record 13.13 seconds while Bryan claimed bronze in the high jump with a height of 2.16m.
Bryan has been doing mostly track work: “I want him to get a little faster. I think this will help his jumping if he can get to the bar quicker,” said Harley.
Hyde has been focusing on the school’s Manning Cup football team and has not been doing any track and field training since the start of the season.
Harley says the team’s preparation has been slightly hampered since the start of the new school year because the school’s playing field is unserviceable and they have had to be working out at the National Heroes Circle.
“The surface is not great and this caused us to have a little shin problem and ankle problems here and there but at the moment nothing major to put us back to say we will be out for weeks,” the IAAF Level II certified coach told MilesplitJa.
“This is a time when we should have been doing some long jump and high jump which have not yet started, but nevertheless it can be done soon. My only problem is that the Class three boys who should have really started from now don’t start yet,” he added.
While he is satisfied with the sprinters, Harley said he has been paying close attention to his middle distance runners and so far it looks good.
“Based on the results it’s looking very good. I was checking on my quarter-milers and distance runners so I have a fair idea of where they are. Heroes Circle is a big track and the quarter-milers running two laps of it I am getting times like 2:13 which I find very interesting for my quarter-milers,” Harley revealed.
The WBS team, which won with a team of approximately 47 boys in 2010, will remain small he says, because of the school’s policy of not recruiting boys outside of first form or the sixth form. They will be hoping however to expand on the events in which they were able to score some points in the last season. Shane Henry earned valuable points in the 800m and 1500m.
“One of the aims is to try and maximise the areas in which we have not been scoring - in the distance and in the throws. Putting in some work hoping that it will benefit us this year,” Harley concluded.
