LOOKING back at our Champs 103 Preview, teenAGE could never have predicted the spectacular performances that took place at the 2013 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships. We indicated that it would be an exciting five-day affair, but after witnessing 30 records broken, all imaginings were gross understatements.

Boys

On the boys’ side, a total of 19 records were rewritten.

Kingston College was certainly the standouts in this regard as their Class Three speedster Jhevaughn Matherson and Class One wonder Omar McLeod each took home two individual records. Last year’s championship were not the best for Matherson as he fell short of his expectations.

However, this year he did not disappoint as he ran 10.85 seconds in the 100m semis to edge the record 10.86 set last year by Raheem Chambers of St Jago. He went on to smash his own record of 22.02 seconds with a 21.87 seconds performance in the 200m finals on Saturday.

For McLeod, he ran a powerful 49.98 seconds in the 400m hurdles before delivering a silky 13.24 seconds to clinch the Class One 110m hurdles gold and another record less than 24 hours after.

Wolmer’s Boys’ was not to be undone as 16-year-old Christoff Bryan smashed the 2.15 metres High Jump record with his own 2.19 metres jump. He did just enough to get by the field at 2.11 metres and for the remainder of the night jumped against himself to try and better his personal best of 2.20 metres, but stopped after the second attempt.

Girls

For the girls, 11 records fell to the efforts of this year’s contestants.

A stand-out for the girls was Class Four athlete Kimone Shaw of St Jago, who sped to 11.75 seconds in the 100m and 24.28 seconds in the 200m. Her dominance was evident in both races, though her 100m run just got the edge. Shaneil English, who placed second, registered a run almost 400ths of a second slower at 12.09 seconds.

Graduates

While not breaking any records, mentions have to be made of Delano Williams from Munro College and Shericka Jackson of Vere Technical who both brought their ‘Champs’ to a close in fine style.

Delano, who has been in impeccable form all season, dismissed the field in both the 100m and 200m Class One before running a monster of a leg to capture gold for his team in the 4x400m Open. He also claimed a silver medal on the Class One 4x100m relays, but the distance was too great to cover as he valiantly chased down KC’s anchor Tevin-Lloyd Thompson. Shericka Jackson captured the 200m and 400m Class One events before anchoring Vere to championship gold in the 4x400m Open for girls.

How fitting that the two athletes featured on the cover of the 2013 Champs magazine would be the ones to anchor the two final races of the event in a winning fashion.

Results

As it relates to the overall championships, Calabar High easily retained their title as they amassed 299 points to the second-placed Jamaica College’s 258.5 points. Kingston College will be ruing a few injuries and unwarranted mistakes that they may look back on as the cause for them only recording 247.5 points. Michael O’Hara was yet again the standard-bearer for the Lions, capturing three individual gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 110m hurdles, taking the hurdles in a record-breaking 13.45 seconds run.

On the female side, Holmwood grabbed the prestigious honour of Girls’ Champions title as they brushed aside a 40-point deficit to edge ahead at the final tally 300.5 points to Edwin Allen’s 297.5.

It was evident that Holmwood never gave up on pulling off what now seems to be an upset, with Lisa Buchanan and Shanieke Watson hugging as they crossed the finish line in the Class Two 1,500m to show true signs of unity and focus.

Believing that their dynasty was just about to take root, coach Michael Dyke and the Edwin Allen community will surely take this defeat like bitter medicine.

— Devaro Bolton