Holmwood Technical’s Cedricka Williams broke the first record of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships yesterday after she won the Class Two discus throw with 47.04m eclipsing the old mark of 46.69m set in 2018 by former Vere Technical athlete Marie Forbes.

The 17-year-old, who also holds the Class Three record 42.47m set in 2019, struggled to find words to describe her achievement. “After missing Champs last year and to come here and do this, it means a lot, this one is very special for me and yes, I am emotional,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Williams, who has already attained the qualifying mark for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships with her personal best 51.27m set at Excelsior in early March, is ranked number two in the world in the Under-18 age group and number 16 in the Under-20. “I have mixed emotions, I am excited but also I know that I could have thrown further, fouled a big throw in the first round and also had a throw of 46.23m. I expected to break the record but not sure what happened.”

Damali Williams of Edwin Allen was second with 43.72m and Britannie Johnson of Camperdown third with 42.32m.

Defending champions Edwin Allen High, meanwhile, have taken over the lead after 14 finals and are on 108 points, after trailing in third place at the start of the day. St Jago High are in second place on 96 points, Hydel High are on 82, Wolmer’s Girls’ are next on 42 and Holmwood Technical in fifth on 30.5 points.

Another eight finals are on offer for the girls on today’s third day of the five-day championships which starts at 9:00 am.

Yesterday, Leonie Samuels of Rusea’s High created a mild upset as she won the Class One shot put with a personal best 13.21m in the morning session.

The Western Champs gold medallist was ranked third coming into the championships but produced her best at the right time.

St Jago High’s Kayla Davis-Edwards, who was the favourite, was second with 12.67m, well under her personal best 13.67m set just three weeks ago at a meet at G C Foster College, while Edwin Allen High’s Monifa Edwards was third with 12.61m.

Samuels, who was fourth in Class Two in Champs 2019, had a personal best of 12.84m set while winning at Western Champs two weeks ago.

Rasheda Samuels of Edwin Allen High won the Class Two high jump with a mark of 1.73m ahead of pre-championship favourites Malaika Cunningham of Wolmer’s Girls’ (1.70m) and Annishka McDonald of Vere Technical (1.65m).

Samuels came into the competition with a season’s best 1.70m while McDonald led the rankings with 1.80m, while Cunningham had jumped 1.75m.

Wolmer’s Girls won their second event of the championships, also in Class Four when Natrilia Campbell won the long jump with a wind-aided 5.42m (4.1m/s) after taking fourth place in the 70m hurdles the previous afternoon.

Campbell just finished ahead of St Catherine High’s Rihanna Chambers, who finished with a wind-aided 5.40m (3.1m/s) and Edwin Allen’s Toniann Allen was third with 5.22m (0.1m/s).