ST ANDREW amassed a combined team score of 384.50 to capture the 2013 30th staging of the JTA/Sagicor Life of Jamaica National Parish Athletics Championships which ended at the National Stadium yesterday.

The St Andrew aggregation — jointly coached by Marlene Smith and Ransford Spaulding and who led from the previous opening day — produced some outstanding runs throughout yesterday’s final day to outshine their rivals to gain their 16th hold on the championships. Portland were the winners for the past two years.

Second-placed St Catherine also shared the spotlight as they made St Andrew work very hard to keep their lead when they took several races in fine style. They finished with 325.75 points with defending champions Portland finishing third on 270 points.

The other parishes who ran prominently were Manchester with 196 points, followed by St Ann 167.75, Clarendon 134, Westmoreland 119 and St Mary with 103.75 points.

St Andrew also captured the boys’ and girls sections to cap their brilliant win. They took the boys’ honours with 201.50 points ahead of St Catherine (201 points) and Manchester third (124), while St Andrew came out on top in the girls section with 183 points ahead of Portland (175) and St Catherine (124.75).

Four records were also broken yesterday. Firstly, the Girls’ Under-11 4×100 metres relay was won in record time of 52.27 seconds by Westmoreland to erase the previous best of 55.39 seconds set by St Thomas in 2010. Also inside the old mark were St Catherine, who finished second in 55.31 seconds.

The other record went tumbling was the Boys’ Under-9 4x100m relay where St Catherine broke the old mark with a new time of 57.76 seconds to win the event. The old mark of 59.09 seconds was set by St Mary in 2011. Manchester also finished second inside the previous time with 59.01 seconds

Portland broke their old mark by capturing the Girls’ Under-15 4x100m relay in record time of 50.40 seconds as they shattered the 50.86 seconds set in 2011. Finishing second was St Andrew, who also went inside the old mark with 50.81 seconds.

The stars of the championships were Kristoff Darby of St Andrew and Andre Valentine of Portland who were both tied with 27 points as the overall boy champions, while the overall girls’ champion award was shared by Ava-Kay Lewis of St Catherine, Mackaela Fraser of Portland and Tizadie Johnson of St Andrew, each earning 18 points.

Darby, who won the boys’ high jump with a record leap on the first day, returned yesterday to win the boys’ 400m final in a record time of 51.00secs as he erased the previous best of 51.27secs set by Romario Ferron of Portland in 2012, and the 800m final in 2:07.23 seconds.

Meanwhile, Joshua Darby of St Andrew won the boys’ Under-17 100m in 11.75secs ahead of teammate Dane Stephens, second in 11.84secs, while the girls’ Under-17 100m final was won by Tamia Campbell of St Ann in 13.21secs ahead of Odeasha Williams of Trelawny 13.37secs.

Devantay Barrett of St Andrew captured the boys’ Under-17 200m in 23.52secs ahead of teammate Joshua Darby 24.32secs, while the girls’ Under-17 200m was won by Tizadie Johnson of St Andrew in 26.91secs ahead of Odeasha Williams of Trelawny 27.43secs.

Portland finished first and second in the boys’ Under-15 400m final with Valentine winning in 53.06secs and Romario Mickiel in 54.42secs, while the girls’ Under-15 400m was won by Linesha Thompson of St Andrew in 1:00.32secs.

Valentine of Portland captured the boys’ Under-15 100m in 12.11secs, ahead of Trevon Richards of Trelawny 12.20secs, while Krissancia Sang of St Andrew won the girls’ Under-15 100m final in 13.32secs from Dahlia Harris of Portland 13.45secs.

The boys’ 1600m sprint medley open was won by St Andrew in 3:56.06 ahead of St Thomas (4:09.36) and Manchester (4:06.00), while the girls’ 800m sprint medley was won by Westmoreland in 1:59.12 ahead of St Thomas (2:01.34) and St Catherine (2:03.10).