The Inter-Secondary School Sport Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’

and Girls’ Athletics Champonships are three weeks away and teenAGE

begins its countdown with the key rivalries for this 105th staging.

100-metre contenders

CLASS III

On the girls’ side, St Jago looks strong across the classes and coach, Danny Hawthorne will be happy once his girls turn up to the party. In Class 3, it has been a season-long battle between Kimone Shaw and Shurria Henry from St Jago. Kiara Grant from Convent of Mercy (Alpha) is looking to upset the girls from Monk Street after registering a blistering 11.89 as a warning signal.

CLASS II 

The Class 2 girls have been excellent all season long with one person unable to stamp their dominance consistently. Shellece Clark of Edwin Allen is the main contender after stopping the clock at 11.92 during the Youngster Goldsmith meet. Shaneil English of St Jago High along with Renee Shaw of Excelsior will look to challenge Clark for the gold on the big stage.

CLASS I

Shauna Helps out of the Wolmer’s camp has been dominant throughout her Champs progression and she is looking to end it on that note. Helps ran a dazzling 11.66 seconds, and Vere’s Renee Medley or St Jago’s Shanice Reid are among the few other athletes under 12 seconds. They will look to peak at the right moment as nothing less is required to beat the sprint queen in Class 1.

On the male side, the 105th instalment of Boys Champs will provide us with dazzling entertainment and records are never unreachable.

CLASS III  

Taiwane Garriques of St Jago will carry on where the girls left off. The youngster recorded a scintillating 11.28 seconds at the Camperdown Classics to outclass the field. Akeem Smith and Oshane Peart have both clocked under 11.5 seconds and will look to score valuable points for former champions Kingston College in the sprints.

CLASS II  

Kingston College’s Jhevaughn Matherson took silver in last year’s Class 2 100m with a time of 10.37 seconds. This time around the fortis will be eyeing gold but will need to improve on his 10.59 at Youngster Goldsmith. Class 2 debutantes Tyreke Wilson and Dejour Russell will look to pick up where they left off in Class 3. The duo copped the gold and silver respectively and will look to bring valuable points home for the defending champions Calabar.

CLASS I  

The highlight of the penultimate day of champs is always the show closer, the boys’ Class 1 100m finals. The quality at this level is unparalleled globally. The household name, Junior World Championship medallist, Michael O’Hara of Calabar has been dominant all season. The young speedster will look to put last year’s blemishes behind him and be an example for his team in the 100m finals. His teammate Edward Clarke might just push him to the finish with his own bid for glory. Last year’s bronze medallist Raheem Chambers of Wolmer’s Boys School signalled his intentions with a speedy 10.62 earlier in February. The sprint promises to be a show stopper and with this crop of talented sprinters, records are never set in stone.