THE records in the field events continued to fall as the ISSA GraceKennedy Girls Championships continued at the National Stadium with two records falling yesterday.

St Hugh’s High’s Candicea Bernard broke her second record when she set a new mark in the shot put Open, while Manchester High’s Chanice Porter jumped a massive 6.43m to lead the Class 2 long jump.

Meanwhile, after six finals, Manchester lead with 30 points, two more than Vere Technical, with defending champions Holmwood third on 27.

Coaches for the top two schools, Holmwood and Edwin Allen, were still confident they would win the title come tomorrow night, however, despite being out of the top three places

Holmwood’s Maurice Wilson invited all and sundry to come for the title they’ve held for the past seven years, telling the Observer, “It’s on”.

Wilson admitted they were behind in their expected tally after the second day, saying they were expecting to be at the 35-point mark.

He said they dropped points from the long jump Class 4 and high jump Class 3, but said, “We’ll keep fighting every step of the way.”

Edwin Allen’s Michael Dyke said they were actually ahead of projections.

“We were thinking we would be at about 12 points tonight” he told the Observer, adding that they had placed enough athletes in the semi-finals and finals, so he was confident.

After Wednesday’s hot and humid day, yesterday was windy with the wind gusting over eight metres per second at times.

The 16 year-old Porter, who is a first-year Class 2 athlete, set the Championships on fire late yesterday after uncorking two massive jumps to obliterate the previous mark of 6.11m set by Salcia Slack of Holmwood in 2007.

On her first jump she leaped 6.23m, then rested the next two rounds before smashing that mark on her next attempt, landing .20m further in the sand at 6.43m.

Porter, who is also tipped to win the high jump, had a personal best 6.10m last year coming into the meet, but jumped a wind-aided 6.18m as a Class 4 athlete.

Her mark was just shy of the National Junior record of 6.53m set by Nolle Graham in June 2000.

Jerry Holness, the head coach of Manchester, told her to take the rest of the night off, explaining to the Observer that she was just coming off an injury and after missing the CARIFTA Trials two weeks ago, he did not want to overwork her.

Rochelle Farquharson repeated her silver medal from last year, while Holmwood’s Jenieve Russell was third.

Amanda Carty gave Hydel High their first gold at Champs when she won the Class 4 long jump with a wind aided 5.56m (6.9m/s), which is longer than the record 5.52m held by STETHS’ Opal James.

Because of the wind, which was well over the allowed 2.0m/s force, it was not recognised as a record.

Excelsior’s Ashley Baker was second with 5.53m (3.3m/s) and Annastacia Forrester of Manchester third with 5.45m (5.1m/s).

Bernard, who broke the Class 1 discus record on Wednesday, returned to smash her second record when she heaved the shot a record 13.24m, erasing the 12.87m set by her teammate and close friend Micara Vassell last year.

Edwin Allen’s Sasha-gay Marston was second with 11.84m, while another St Hugh’s athlete, Devene Brown, was third with 11.75m.

Vere’s Vanessa Levy, who was third while competing for Edwin Allen last year and was second in the discus Wednesday, failed to make it to the final after throwing just 10.07m in the qualifying round.

The affable Bernard told reporters she was aiming for the 14m mark but “anything was good as long as I won and broke the record”, admitting she was nervous going into the event.

She will go after a third medal today when she competes in the javelin, a new event for her, and despite having a best effort of just over 29m, says she will put it all on the line for St Hugh’s.

Fourteen more finals will be contested today, including the 100m in all four classes, the 400m hurdles and 1500m.

Vere Technical’s 6 foot plus 15 year-old Chennel Palmer created a mild upset when she beat the Alpha pair of Tatiana Wolfe and Krista-Gay Taylor in the Class 3 high jump.

Palmer, whose only other win leading up to Champs came at Central Champs two weeks ago, cleared a personal best 1.70m, while the Alpha pair ended at 1.65m.

The first rounds of the 100m were run yesterday with the semi-finals set for this morning and finals in the afternoon.

Antonique Campbell, who is seeking three medals, leads the Class 1 qualifying after racing to a 12.05 seconds clocking in the first heat while Holmwood’s Ornella Livingston and Manchester’s Leslie-Ann Mitchell, finalists last year, along with Edwin Allen’s Shashawna Ffrench and Josette Campbell, Vere’s World Youth Championships finalists Celia Walters and Holmwood’s Yanique Ellington in her first year in Class 1, also advanced.

Herbert Morrison’s Seidatha Palmer, last year’s fourth-placed finisher, was the fastest in the Class 2 100m, running 12.23 seconds to win her heat easily, while teammate Kerifa Myers was second best with 12.55.

Defending champions Deanadra Whitehorne of Vere, as well as bronze medalist Sherika Moulton of Holmwood, are also through to the semi-finals.

Oracabessa’s Christania Williams, who was a surprise silver medallist in Class 4 last year, leads the Class 3 qualifying with 12.49 seconds ahead of last year’s Class 4 champion, Diana Williams of Holmwood.

Four finalists from last year have advanced — bronze medallist Channice Bonner of The Queen’s, fourth-placed Oshin Brooks-Gillings of Alpha, fifth-placed Kedisha Dallas of Holmwood and Satima Chambers of Vere.

St Jago’s Natalliah Whyte was the top qualifier in the Class 4 100m in 12.72, followed by two Edwin Allen runners Valencia Marshall and Tasheca Stanley.

Defending champion Chris-Ann Gordon leads all qualifiers in the Class 3 400m after clocking 56.86 seconds, leading last year’s fourth-placed finisher Kissi-Ann Brown of Wolmer’s Girls’, Yvonna Grant of St Jago and Shantae Green of Holmwood.

STETHS’ CARIFTA Games selectee Alethia McLaughlin ran 4:49.92 to lead the Class 3 1500m qualifiers ahead of Holmwood’s Shanika Watson, St Jago’s Roshae Burrell and Edwin Allen’s Marleena Eubanks.

There were no preliminaries in either Classes 1 or 2 both of which will be run as straight finals today.

Manchester High’s Natoya Goule who has never lost an individual race at Champs, will start favorites to retain her Class 1 crown, while the Edwin Allen tandem of Makola Josephs and Sharlene Nickle, along with Sharlene Brown of Manchester, will battle for the lesser medals.

Points standings after five finals:

Vere Technical 28

St Hugh’s High 24

Wolmers Girls 20

Manchester High 18

Holmwood Technical 17

Edwin Allen High 16

Convent of Mercy 13

St Jago High 13

St Elizabeth Technical 9

Hydel School 9

Excelsior High 7

St Andrew High 6

Immaculate Conception 5