Auburn's Kerron Stewart, right, wins the women's 200 meter with a time of 22.42 seconds at the NCAA track and field championships in Sacramento, Calif., Saturday, June 9, 2007. At left is Houston's Ebonie Floyd. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Raymond Graham, Freelance Writer

THE thousands of fans who turned up at the National Stadium last weekend to witness the Jamaica International Invitational (JII) meet were not disappointed.

They were treated to some high-class performances by athletes who will be at the August 8-24 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

One of the highlights of the meet was the performance of former St Jago High star, Kerron Stewart. Competing in the women's 100 metres, Stewart, who three weeks ago posted a world-leading 22.35 seconds in the 200m, added another world-leading time when she romped to 10.96. It was the first time this year a female athlete has gone under 11 seconds, and she became the sixth Jamaican ever to go under this barrier.

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For those who have been following her early career, this was no surprise. She had shown real promise while attending John Mills Junior High. At the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, former Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) executive member and statistician, Charlie Fuller boldly predicted that Stewart was going to be Jamaica's best ever female sprinter.

She has had a lot of success at the junior level. At the World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2001, she was second in the 100m to American Allyson Felix, while at the World Junior Championships in Kingston in 2002, she was fourth in the same event to Lauryn Williams of the United States. Both Americans have since won world titles.

Stewart, who majored in Adult Education at Auburn University, had her best year as a senior in 2007. At Auburn she won every individual event she entered including a NCAA outdoor 200m title in 22.42. She was later handed the Honda Sports Award for being the nation's top collegiate female track-and-field athlete for the year. She was picked for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, where she finished seventh in the 100m and ran the second leg on the silver-medal-winning 4x100m team.

Earlier this week, her coach Henry Rolle gave a cautious response when asked about her performance on the weekend.

"I am happy, but not excited, as my goal for Kerron is for her to be number one after Beijing. This is part of the process and I am very confident that she will go faster in both the 100m and 200m," said Rolle a native of the Bahamas, who is the assistant coach at Auburn University and who has worked with several of Jamaica's collegiate athletes.

Rolle said Stewart's early season 400m runs were, contrary to popular belief, not for "strength work."

"I used this (400m) as a mental challenge for her as she has the physical attributes already and, after running a personal best of 52.08 in Jamaica, at the University of Technology (UTech) meet in March, I knew that she was ready," he added.

Rolle stated that his sights are set first on the National Championships next month.

"Jamaica has some outstanding female athletes and the likes of Sherone Simpson and Veronica Campbell-Brown, along with UTech's Shelly Ann Frazer, who looked awesome at the Penn Relays, will be in top form and Kerron will have to be at the top of her game to compete with them," he said.

Rolle stated that Stewart was on target to go under 11.00 in the 100m last year, but suffered a slight injury before the National Championships. This year she will run in both sprint events at the championships.

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Stewart said she was really happy to be the number one ranked athlete in the world in both events.

"It is a great feeling because many Olympic and World Champions have been world leaders in their events," she said.

Stewart had expected to run fast at the JII meet. She had been progressing well at training after running 11.03 over the past two years.

Asked what times she was targeting over both events, she replied bluntly: "I am not putting any limits on myself, as I am going to take things in stride. My goal is to come to the trials and win both events, then go to the Olympic Games and do likewise,'' she said.

In Athens four years ago, Stewart went as a member of the relay squad and did not get a chance to compete.

"I was not disappointed that I did not participate as, at the time, four other girls were much better than I was, but that trip motivated me. I told myself then that I will be aiming to be among the individual qualifiers next time around," she said.

Before next month's National Championships, Stewart will compete in three races, the 200m twice and once in the 100m.

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