KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica College (JC) took an early lead after the three finals on Wednesday, day two of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

The Hope Road-based boys top the list with 28 points after capturing the Class One and two long jumps at the National Stadium yesterday.

Defending champions Calabar High are second with 16 points ahead of Cornwall College who are in third place on 11 points. Holmwood Technical are fourth on nine points ahead of St Jago High in fifth, with eight points. Kingston College, Edwin Allen High and Wolmer’s Boys are next on seven points each.

However, the talking point of last night was the serious blow suffered by Calabar High when their much-vaunted Class Two sprint relay team had the stadium in a buzz after they messed up the baton exchange on the final leg. They were well ahead of the pack having established a massive lead but failed to finish the race.

Wolmer’s Boys went on to win in 42.29 seconds.

KC safely advanced placing second in heat two in 42.55 seconds behind St Catherine with 42.30. JC looked good with 41.77 seconds in heat three while St Jago also messed up on their anchor leg and did not qualify.

Earlier in the Class One long jump final, JC’s O’Brien Waysome soared to an impressive 7.71m to win the Class One long jump but failed by just .16m to erase the long-standing record held by Leon Gordon on Vere Technical High done in 1993.

Travis Riley of Calabar was second with 7.40m while Alrick Ottey of Cornwall College stole bronze with 7.36m ahead of his teammate Odaine Lewis who did 7.17m, the same as fifth-placed Ajani James of JC.

In the first final of the day, Paketo Dudley of JC won the Class Two long jump with a leap of 7.21m while his teammate Johni James finished eighth for a total of 10 points.

Daemon Creary of Wolmer’s Boys stole second with his last jump of 6.75m ahead of Calabar High’s Daniel Bogle with 6.71m. Yashawn Hamilton of KC grabbed fourth with 6.70m.

In the third final of the day, the 2,000m Steeplechase Open, Daniel Glave of Holmwood High won in 6:04.90 minutes ahead of Herick Walters of Edwin Allen with 6:07.80 minutes. Third was Thaleetio Green in 6:08.53 minutes.

Meanwhile, Jaheel Hyde opened his Champs account in easy fashion winning heat one of the Class One 400m hurdles 52.28 seconds.  Davian Baker of KC won heat four in 52.75 seconds. Marvin Williams of STETHS won heat two in 53.67 seconds, while his teammate Robin Black stopped the clock at 53.32 to hold off KC’s Orlando Smith in 53.64. St Andrew Technical High logged 53.60 into the final.

Calabar made amends in the Class One 4×100 relay with a super second leg from Michael O’Hara and posted a decent 40.01 clocking in heat one, while St Jago responded in heat two with 40.14 seconds. JC won their heat in 40.91 seconds then KC closed heat four with 40.06 seconds with an awesome-looking Akeem Bloomfield on anchor.

While in the Decathlon, Calabar’s Shakiel Chattoo leads after four finals with 3,102 points ahead of Marcus Brown of Morant Bay High on 2,922 points. Amaudo O’Connor of Buff Bay High is third with 2,893 points.

Men

Team Rankings – 3 Events Scored

1) Jamaica College            28

2) Calabar High                    16

3) Cornwall College              11

4) Holmwood Technical High 9

5) St Jago High                   8

6) Kingston College              7

6) Wolmer’s High                 7

6) Edwin Allen High                     7

9) Bellefield High                 5

10) St Andrew Technical              4

11) Mavis Bank High             3

11) Ardenne High                 3

13) Old Harbour High           2

14) St Elizabeth Technical    1

Howard Walker