Defending champions Excelsior High girls and Kingston College (KC) grabbed early leads on day one of the Digicel Anthrick Corporate Area Championships inside the National Stadium yesterday.

Excelsior raced to 92 points and were 44 points ahead of Immaculate Conception High on 48 points after 11 finals. St Andrew High were sitting in third on 45 points with The Queen’s School in fourth with 44 points. Camperdown High completed the top five with 41 points.

In the boys’ section after six finals, KC looked strong while amassing 71 points and were 12 ahead of Jamaica College (JC) on 59 with defending champions Calabar High in third on 49 points. Excelsior High were fourth with 18 points ahead of Wolmer’s Boys’ in fifth on 10 points.

A number of records were broken on day one starting with the boys’ 1,500m in which new marks were established in the three classes.

In the Class One Calabar’s Rivaldo Marshall stopped the clock at 3:56.13 minutes, which was well below the previous record held by KC’s Kristoff Darby of 4:01.11. Kevroy Venson of Calabar was second with 3:58.83. KC’s Tarees Rhoden closed late for third with 3:59.12.

The Class Two 1,500m record also went in spectacular fashion as JC’s J’Voughnn Blake smashed Arymanya Rodgers’ record of 3:59.59 minutes, stopping the clock as 3:56.43. The KC twins, Gianni and Giovanni Henry were well behind in second and third in 4:03.50 and 4:05.52, respectively.

Then KC’s Jaquan Coke was well inside the Class Three 1,500m record of 4:24.29, clocking 4:22.63. Kemarrio Bygrave of JC was second with 4:23.80 and KC’s Darnel Edwards third with 4:26.36.

Calabar World Junior champion Kai Chang broke his own Class One discus record of 57.03m with a throw of 58.91m. KC’s Ralford Mullings shattered his own Class Two discus record of 50.38m and moved it to another level with a magnificent throw of 61.86m.

KC’s Anthony Willis broke the Class Three long jump record of 6.34 with a leap of 6.38m while Immaculate Conception’s Jounee Armstrong leapt a record 5.65m in the girls’ Class Four long jump, well over the previous record of 5.14 held by Janielle Josephs of St Andrew High since 2014. Armstrong’s teammate Lori Choy also went further than the previous record with a jump of 5.22m for second.

Excelsior’s Kaliah Jones soared to 1.70m to break the Class One high jump record while her teammate Shantae Foreman went better to erase the Class Two high jump record, with 1.75m. Foreman returned and was second in the Class Two long jump with 5.81m. The event was won by Aaliyah Lindsay of the Convent of Mercy Alpha in record fashion with 6.00m.

Ashanti Wright of Excelsior won the girls’ Class Two discus with 40.85m, while her teammate Adrienne Adams took the Class One with 46.74m.

In the first timed final of the day, Britney Brown of The Queen’s School won the girls’ Class One 1,500m in 5:11.06. Lori Sharp of St Andrew High was second some distance back with 5:14.68. Michaela Lewis of The Queen’s School was third with 6:01.91.

In Class Two, Excelsior High grabbed the top two spots courtesy of Gabriella Gordon (5:09.35) and Sheneil Palmer (5:15.55). Nastassia Facey of Camperdown High was third with 5:17.58.

Camperdown High swept the Class Three 1,500m as Ajada Brown won in 5:13.20 ahead of her teammate Junell Laing with 5:17.24. Tori-Ann Miller of St Andrew High was third with 5:18.16.

There were not too many fireworks in the 100m preliminaries contested in heavy headwinds. Calabar’s top gun Michael Stephen in his second meet of the year, won his Class One heat in 10.85 (-2.9 mps) and was the third fastest into the final. JC’s Michali Everett was quickest with 10.73 (-3.9mps). Wolmer’s Boys’ Xavier Nairne was third quickest with 10.77 (-1.8 mps).

KC’s Terrique Stennett looked smooth in clocking 10.82 (-2.4 mps) and was the fastest into the Class Two 100m final. His teammate Nkrumie Bouwahjgie who chased him home in the heats was second quickest with 11.04. JC’s Deondre McIntosh was third fastest in winning heat four in 11.07 (-1.3 mps).

Christopher Scott of JC was the fastest in Class Three clocking 11.13 (-0.7 mps) ahead of KC’s Amontae Wray with 11.25 (-1.6) and Calabar’s Dashawn Gray with 11.41 (-0.8). JC’s Mark-Anthony Miller looked awesome in Class Four stopping the clock at 11.55 heading into the final.

Known more for her hurdling, Camperdown’s Britany Anderson was fastest in the girls’ Class One 100m with 12.22 (-2.0 mps). Campion College’s Krystal Sloley was anything but slow as she enters the Class Two 100m final with the fastest time of 12.18 (-1.2 mps).

The far-striding Onanda Lowe of Immaculate Conception and her teammate Gabrielle Lyn were quickest in the Class Three 100m final with 11.41 times, while Toni-Ann Bryan, also of Immaculate, was the fastest in Class Four with 12.53 (-1.7 mps).

The Championships will be concluded today with action starting at 1:00 pm.