Johnstone Meli and Emmaculate Anyango hit gold in the boys' 5,000m and girls' 3,000m respectively as Kenya commanded proceeding in athletics held at Sheikh Abeid Stadium in Arusha, Tanzania yesterday.
Meli, who travelled to Arusha as runner up at the national championships tore the tape in 14:15.9 getting his revenge on national champion Jackson Kavesa who settled for bronze with a time of 14:39.0. Tanzania's Matayo Sombi clocked 14:28.0 settled for silver medal in the 5,000m event.
Anyango timed 9:36.7 to reign supreme in 3,000m as Tanzanian duo of Aisha Khamisi (9:52.6) and Naomi Yombo (9:56.4) garnered silver and bronze medals respectively.
Meli said after settling for second during the national in Mombasa in April, he went back to the drawing board and he is glad to have won the race.
“It’s fulfilling to win the gold medal and beat the national champion. I’m in form four and after clearing the school I will fully concentrate on running under the stable of Janet Jepkosgei and see what happens from there.” noted the 19-year-old student from Koiban Secondary School.
Anyango, on the other hand, said: “I double between 3,000m and 5,000m but here I competed in the shorter distance and I am happy I won the trophy. My participation in U-20 World Championship in Ivory Coast where I finished second with a time of 9:23.0 played a major impact in this race and I can only get better. However, I haven’t really decided which race I will embrace going forward but time will tell.” noted the form one student at Kibugat Girls Secondary School, Kericho.
Kenya extended the good run winning both boys' and girls' 800m races. Nelly Chepchirchir (2:12.4) and Leah Jeruto (2:13.2) won gold and silver respectively with Uganda’s Ajupo Babra (2:16.8) settling for third position.
Joseph Rotiken (1:54.0) and Francis Leshoo (1:54.9) too took 1-2 positions on the podium for Kenya as Rwandase Ingabire Victoire (1:57.4) finished third.
Brian Tinega (48.0) and Benard Kiptoo(49.5) won gold and bronze for Kenya in the 400m race as Layeng Sibryanda won silver for Uganda with a time of 48.9. Kenya won gold in boys Triple jump and discuss through Denis Kangogo (1.56m) and Nathan Kibiwott (44:19m).
