ST CATHERINE, Jamaica — Despite persistent afternoon showers, a slew of records were broken at the eighth staging of the GC Foster College Central Hurdles and Relays meet in St Catherine, on Saturday.

The meet, which was highlighted by the presence of St Kitts and Nevis’ former world champion and veteran star Kim Collins, saw more than 12 records being established.

Holmwood Technical was among the top performances when they erased Edwin Allen’s six-year-old meet record on their way to victory in the girl’s class one 4×100 metre relays.

The team of Kerry-Ann Scott, Ashley Williams, Britney Hew, and the smooth-stepping Shanta Deer on anchor clocked a 45.58 seconds to lower the previous mark of 45.60 seconds, which was set in 2009. Edwin Allen had to settle for second place.

However, the Clarendon-based school won the girls’ class four in a new record time of 48.51 seconds, lowering their own previous record of 48.60 seconds by nine-hundredth of a second.

The team, which includes Bethany Bridge, Jessica McLean, Patreece Clarke, and Salieci Myles took advantage of their rivals Holmwood Technical and Manchester High shaky exchanges to streak away with victory.

Earlier in the day, Sashalee Forbes of GC Foster College registered a comfortable victory in the women’s 200-metre dash and erased the old mark of 24.49 seconds set by Yanique Ellington in 2012.

Forbes, running in a wind speed of -0.6 metres per second, clocked 24.08 seconds on her way to victory ahead of teammate Samantha Curtis and Tjipekapora Herunga (24.64sec) of MVP.

Nigel Ellis of St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) also established a new record in the men’s equivalent when he clocked 21.10 seconds in a positive wind speed of 1.3 metres per second.

He lowered the previous mark of 21.29 seconds set by Andrew McCabe in 2013 to win ahead of Travane Morrison (21.15sec) of UTech and Alvin Green (21.61sec) of GC Foster.

The STETHS pair of Dashinelle Dyer and Jauavney James also etched their names in the record books on their way to victories in the men’s under-18 and under-20 400-metre hurdles, respectively.

Dyer clocked in 55.19 seconds to dismantle the old mark of 59.19 seconds set by Andre Solomon in 2008, to win ahead of St Jago’s Andy Williams (57.52s) and Lloyd Facey Jr (58.98s) of Mona, who also went under the old mark.

James won his event in 53.63 seconds to lower the previous 54.04 seconds set in 2010 by Jodi Rae Blackwood. Rayan Holmes (53.68s) of Holmwood and Chadrick Brown (53.95s) of Kingston College were the runners-up.

Brown of Kingston College returned to top the 110 metre event in a time of 13.89 seconds against a negative 0.9 metres per second wind speed to dip just below the previous mark of 13.91 seconds set in 2012 by Stefan Russell.

Gabrielle McDonald of Holmwood was even more impressive in the girl’s equivalent as she cruised to victory in a time of 14.07 seconds in a negative wind speed of 0.2 metres per second. She lowered the old mark of 14.18 metres set by Chrisdale McCarthy in 2012.

Patrice Moody (14.14s) of Edwin Allen and Safiya Thompson (14.29s) of St Jago were second and third, respectively.

St Jago’s Alesha Kelly continued her early season form when she blew away the field to win the girl’s 400-metre class one event. Kelly’s time of 54.69 seconds erased the old record of 55.37 seconds set by Monique Spencer in 2013.

Sherdon Cowan