Bennett aims to step up Reid’s pace

ROBERT BAILEY
STAR Writer
Coach Corey Bennett says he was pleased with sprinter Alana Reid’s performance last season and expects the Commonwealth Games 200m bronze medallist to continue improving, provided she remains healthy and focused.
Bennett, who coached Reid during her high school career at Hydel High, was working the 21-year-old for the first time at the professional level following her return to Jamaica from overseas.
Reid secured her first senior global medal at the Commonwealth Games, clocking 22.56 seconds to claim bronze. She has a personal best of 22.29, which she established at the National Championships in June.
Adjustment period
Bennett said there was an adjustment period when Reid returned to Jamaica, particularly as they worked to get her accustomed to his training programme.
“It took a bit of adjusting because when she came back we had to get her back into the kind of mood as to how we train out here and it took a little while,” explained Bennett.
“We started out training late; I think we started sometime in November, and she came along eventually, and the results at the end of the season were decent,” he noted.
Reid also holds the national junior record of 10.92 seconds for the 100m, which she achieved while at Hydel in 2023.
He noted that they opted to focus on the 200m during Reid’s first season back under his guidance, as he believed the event would allow her to regain some of the development she may have missed after leaving high school.
“I don’t think she did much since leaving high school, to be honest, and I think that she is more a complete sprinter when she has a good solid 200m, so we thought it was best to just focus on the 200m for the first year,” he said.
“I don’t know where that will lead us because she seems to be doing well at the 200m, so it may be her primary eventually,” he said.
“It was pretty strategic because I thought that she had lost a lot and she didn’t run 100 metres; she tends to have a solid 200m. That was icing on the cake at the end of the season; she really dug deep and got that bronze, but it was a pretty long season.”
Greater belief
Bennett noted that Reid’s medal-winning performance should also give her greater belief that she belongs at the highest level of the sport.
“Sometimes she has to expect and believe, and that should open her eyes and make her believe that she belongs on this stage and at this level, and she can only get better from here going forward,” he said.
“You can’t reap what you never sow. But she put in some work and she got some results and also got some PB (personal best) along the way, and I hope she continues to work from here and continues to improve come next season,” Bennett stated.