– …wins for Hooper, Fraser and Foster among others

 
IT was another day dominated by the Guyana Defence Force athletes, yesterday, as Natrena Hooper took the women’s high jump in a personal best, while Davin Fraser and Andrea Foster registered wins on the final day of events at the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) National Seniors Championships held at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora.The GDF men’s team, anchored by Fraser, also powered their way to win in the men’s 4x100m finals, while Guyana Police Force Julio Sinclair won the men’s shot put (14.30m) and discus throw (39.04m).

Hooper, who is trying to make the Olympic qualifying standard in the high jump, proved that she is on a clear path of continued development as she cleared 1.83m, to take the win ahead of the GPF’s Cindy Fraser (1.50m) and Clarissa McBean (1.45m).
This follows her 1.78m performance two weeks ago at the Hampton International Games, and puts her that much closer to the 1.93m needed to qualify for the August 5 – 21 Rio Olympics.

Hooper was also not to be outdone in the women’s triple jump and 200m either. For the triple jump, Hooper outdistanced her sibling, and CARIFTA Games gold medalist, Natricia, for the win. Natreena leaped 12.54m, against the 12.10m covered by Natricia. Third place for the event went to women’s long jump champion Chantoba Bright with a distance of 11.79m.

In the women’s 200m, Hooper dashed all hopes of a sprint double win for her club mate, Aniquah Powley. An injured Powley had earlier won the women’s 100m ahead of Hooper on Saturday when the championships began.

However, this time around the obviously suffering Powley could only muster enough to manage a third- place finish. Despite not being at her best, Hooper was able to get an easy win clocking 24.79 seconds. Second place for the race went to De Challenger’s Toyan Raymond in a time of 25.61 seconds, while Powley stumbled across the finishing line in 25.99 seconds.

In the men’s 200m, hopes of a sprint double were also dashed, as Davin Fraser was more than men’s 100m champion, Rupert Perry, could handle.

Perry, who noted that he needs to work on his slow starts, was taken down by Fraser who cleared the win in 21.29 seconds. Perry was in by 21.34 seconds. Arinze Chance was deserving of his third-place finish, which he took in 21.84 seconds.

CARIFTA Games bronze medalist Foster, in her usual style, followed up her Saturday women’s 1500m win, with the 800m win yesterday. She took the race in a time of 2:19.25s. Meanwhile, the clock was the biggest challenge for Running Brave’s Claudrice Mc Koy as she made her way to a win the women’s 3000m, with a time of 10:50.00s. GDF’s Ashanti Scott took second in 10:51.44s.

The men’s 5000m win went to Winston Missengher in a time of 15:53.62s, while GPF’s Quacy Morian championed the men’s 800m in 1:53.79s.