At the end of day one, based on the points already scored and those expected to be scored, there was never any doubt that both Edwin Allen High and St Jago High would retain their Girls’ and Boys’ titles respectively at the Central Athletics Championships held at the GC Foster College in St Catherine.

Edwin Allen High were comfortable winners with 375.20 points compared to Hydel High with 305.60 and third-place St Jago High with 274.60. Former champions Holmwood Technical were fourth with 220. Rounding out the top ten were St Catherine High 197.50, Manchester High 82.50, Vere Technical 77, Dinthill Technical 38.60, Alphansus Davis High 31, Clarendon College 30. 

Edwin Allen High picked up right where they left off on Wednesday, gathering 12 points from the first track event of the day, the Girls 2000m Steeple Chase, compared to the 6 their nearest challengers Hydel were able to gain.

Outsiders St Catherine High had something to celebrate when the pair of Natalie Albert with 39.71m and G’Nea Pitt with 39.0m finished first and second in the Javelin Open. Shenelia Williams of Edwin Allen High was third with 36.06m.

Asia McKay of Edwin Allen jumped a meet record 1.70m to win the Class 3 High Jump, while her teammate Serena Cole remained unbeaten in the Long Jump when the won in Class 1 with 5.92m. The St Jago pair of Key-Lagay Clarke (5.84m) and Machaeda Linton (5.62m) were second and third respectively.

Doniellia Lewis was unable to emulate her senior teammate in the Class 2 Long Jump as she finished runner-up with 5.74m to Shania Myers of Hydel who won with 5.78m. Jade-Ann Dawkins of St Jago was third with 5.59m.

After the excitement created by the 100m in Class 1 on Wednesday, a lot would have been expected in the 200m, but none of the big guns reported, leaving the Edwin Allen pair of Brandy Hall (24.07) and Bethany Bridge (24.14) to take the top two spots in the final while third place went to Daena Dyer of Hydel.

Rickeisha Simms of Edwin Allen has been in good form all season and not surprisingly broke the 1500m Class 2 record when she won in 4:38.53.

The final event of the championships for the girls was the 4x400m relay which provided the perfect end to the meet.

There were over six lead changes in the four laps between Edwin Allen and Holmwood Technical with the winner being decided by photo-finish.

In the end, Holmwood prevailed with a time of 3:41.81 to Edwin Allen’s 3:41.82, while St Catherine High was third with 3:46.48.

St Jago High claimed the Boys’ title with 404.50 points, while second-place Edwin Allen High had 175 points.

Clarendon College came in third with 120, while St Catherine High with 98 were fourth and Manchester High with 83 came in fifth.

The rest of the top 15 read:  Charlemont High 70, Vere Technical 66, Dinthill Technical 51.50, Ferncourt High 51, Bustamante High 49, Steer Town Academy 30, Jonathan Grant High 26, Bellefield High 23, Denbigh High 22, Foga Road High 15 and Greater Portmore High 15.

Jalen Brown became a double gold medal winner for the champions when he struck gold in the first track event of the morning, similar to what he did on Wednesday when he beat teammate Caballaro Walters in the 2000m Steeplechase Open. Brown won in 6:37.81 while Walters was second in 6:43.72. Kemar Vernon of Charlemont High was third in 6:51.22.

Gregory Prince and Bryan Levell, who were among the favourites for the 200m, faced each other in the heats, which Prince won.  He, however, failed to report for the final, leaving Levell to battle with another favourite Sandrey Davison of St Catherine High.

Levell came very close to the record of 20.70s held by Richard Dixon of Dinthill Technical when he ran 20.71s to win ahead of Davison who was second in 21.30. Shemar Palmer of Manchester High was third in 21.37s.

In the morning, Christopher Young of Edwin Allen broke the Class 1 Shot Put record of 18.34m set back in 2015 by another Edwin Allen man, Demar Gayle, when he threw a distance of 18.77m for gold and then returned in the afternoon to break his own Javelin Open record of 61.10m set in 2020 when he threw 61.70m.

Balvin Israel, who broke the Class 2 Triple Jump record on Wednesday, was denied a second record in the Long Jump when his distance of 6.92m could not be ratified due to the absence of a wind gauge.

In much the same way that Edwin Allen were denied glory in the final event for the girls, St Jago High were relegated to runners-up in the 4x400m final when Manchester High, who had the Class 3 champion Troydian Flemmings on anchor, secured the last gold medal of the championship, winning in 3:17.41.

St Jago placed second in 3:18.32 and St Catherine third in 3:19.82.