Head coach of Alphansus Davis High School, Megan Wilson-Copeland, is expecting strong performances from her athletes, particularly in the middle-distance events at this year’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs).
The five-day championships are scheduled to take place from March 24–28 at the National Stadium.
Wilson-Copeland, who has been head coach at Alphansus Davis since 2005, said preparations have gone well despite a hectic schedule of lead-up competitions.
“The preparations have been going good so far but the only challenge that we had is that the meets were so close to each other,” she said. “For example, we had the Central Championships on the Tuesday and then, on the Saturday of the same week, we had the Gibson McCook Relays and then we had the Carifta Trials days later, and so have tried to keep them as fresh and injury-free as best as possible.”
She noted that the school will be fielding a relatively small-but-focused team, consisting of 12 boys and 15 girls.
“Our training is good because we have a small team here at Alphansus Davis in both boys and girls, because I coach both genders and I go for quality over quantity, and so we are prepared and we are going to give our best once we step out to represent our school at Champs, and so I will be taking 12 boys and 15 girls to the championships,” Wilson-Copeland said.
Optimistic
Last year, Alphansus Davis finished 10th in the girls’ standings with 62 points, while the boys placed 14th with 14. Wilson-Copeland added that her athletes are confident of improving on those results this season.
“I think that 90 per cent of them are optimistic that they will do well, because our aim is to make it to the final of each event that we compete in and then we will take it from there. If you are not in the final, then you cannot talk about a medal. So our focus is to make it to the final in each event that we compete in at this championships,” she said.
According to Wilson-Copeland, the school’s greatest strength lies in its middle-distance runners, who are expected to deliver most of the team’s points.
“Our strong point is our middle-distance group and this is where we are expecting to score most of our points for both the boys and girls,” she said.
Among the key athletes expected to lead the charge are Alikay Reynolds and Tabbrel Williams in the Class 2 800m and 1500m, Chevelle White in the Class 1 2000m steeplechase and 3000m, and Ameiah Samuels in the Class 1 800m and 1500m.
On the boys’ side, Raheem Palmer and Nicholas Federick will compete in the Class 1 800m and 1500m, while Daniel Francis will contest the Class 1 400m.
Wilson-Copeland pointed out that her main objective is to see the girls improve on last year’s performance while encouraging strong showings from the boys.
“My main goal is to finish in the top for the girls and to just have some quality performances for the boys. We finished 10th last year with the girls and so we want to finish one better this year, and so our aim is to be in that top 10 at the end of the five days,” she said.
She also expressed gratitude for the support the programme has received, while noting that additional sponsorship would be beneficial.
“We get support from the school and I must give thanks to the principal and the school administration. We get footwear from Adidas, so we are good with that and we are grateful and also our parents are very supportive, and so we have good support all round,” Wilson-Copeland said.
“However, it could be more where gears are concerned because we don’t have a gear sponsor. So it would be good if we could get some sponsorship in that regard and so are hoping that we get a sponsor that can help us with the gears and nutrition,” she stated.
