St Mary High School began the defence of their Digicel Eastern Athletics Championships with a bang yesterday when they won the first four finals on day one of the two-day event.

They swept all the girls’ 1,500m finals and then took the Class Three boys’ 1,500m final before any of their challengers could claim a gold medal. But Buff Bay High had a late-afternoon surge to reel in the champions and close the day just ahead.

After 12 events scored on the girls’ side, St Mary lead with 108.50 points, followed by Buff Bay High on 107.50 points. Morant Bay High on 58.50, Titchfield High on 49.50 and Oberlin High on 42.66 round out the top five.

On the boys’ side, Buff Bay High on 49 points lead defending champions St Mary High, who are on 38 while Oberlin High are a point behind on 37 in what is shaping up to be an intriguing race. St Thomas Technical are a shade behind the top three on 33 points and Titchfield High on 31 remain in the mix.

Overall Buff Bay lead on 156.50 points, 10 more than St Mary High, who have 146.50. Titchfield High on 80.50 are third, Oberlin High on 79.66 are fourth and Morant Bay High on 70.50 round out the top five.

At the start of the championships, Shone Walters set the tone for the day early when she won the Class Three girls’ 1,500m final by 70m in a time of 4:53.46 ahead of Daneisha Paulwell of Buff Bay High, who had to fight off the challenge of the fast-finishing Brittany Garwood, also of St Mary High. Walters’s time was faster than the Class Two and Class One winners.

Latasha Hall was next to oblige for the champions defending her Class Two title just as easily as her teammate had won, in a time of 5:16.06. Denika Grant of St Mary Technical was second in 5:39.03 and Chantel Walker of Buff Bay third in 5:39.17.

Tameria Howell defended her Class One title in 5:01.07, winning by more than 100 metres as she blitzed the field from the start. Kayann Samuels of Buff Bay took second in 5:27.01 and Jessica Bartley of Oberlin was third in 5:38.02.

Devouine Williams took the Class Three boys’ final in 4:43.29, ahead of Rahiem Walker of Buff Bay (4:47.53) and Terrence Hansel of Oberlin (5:06.05).

Chadrick Bacchus ran a splendid race to defend his Class Two 1,500m title in 4:18.39, leaving Kyle Bowes of St Mary’s College (4:35.78) and Caballaro Walters of St Thomas Technical (4:39.29) in his wake.

The Class One event was won by Ojay Thompson of St Thomas Tech (4:18.47), ahead of Jerome Hinds of Glengofe in 4:20.62 and Clayson Cooper of St Mary High (4:20.98).

The St Mary High girls’ Captain Danielah Gardner defended her Class One high jump title after it went to a jump-off with Giselle Flinch of Morant Bay High. Both athletes failed to clear in their three allotted attempts at 1.55m, but when given one additional chance Gardner managed to get clear while Flinch failed to do so.

Cordaelia Williams of St Mary High took the Class Three high jump in fine style setting a new record of 1.67m on her way to claiming the gold.

Tony-Ann Morris of Glengoffe High jumped her personal best distance of 5.70m on her final attempt as she took the Class Two long jump gold. Joel Henry of Oberlin High won the Class Two boys’ long jump with a best of 6.19m.