THE 2022 title success for Edwin Allen High girls’ team at the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships last week is a particularly sweet one for Principal Jermaine Harris.

While the Clarendon-based school claimed its ninth Girls’ Champs title overall and eighth in a row on Saturday, it’s the first Champs win for him after taking on leadership duties only seven months ago.

Earlier this year, Edwin Allen claimed its first-ever hold on the rural area Ben Francis Cup KO football competition.

As Harris oversaw celebratory activities at Edwin Allen on Monday he praised the school leaders before him, whom he said laid the foundation.

“I’m just basically continuing with that legacy and that tradition set by my predecessors,” he told the Jamaica Observer after a special morning devotion to mark the occasion.

“In terms of what is happening now, I’m definitely planning to build on this. One of the mandates of the new board was to get a principal who loves sport, and sport is one of my favourite pastimes,” he said.

Over five days of competition, Edwin Allen’s girls amassed 352 points, finishing comfortably ahead of Hydel High (295) and St Jago High (249).

As speaker after speaker praised the accomplishments during their address to the school body, there were jubilant cheers, blaring music and vuvuzelas as the co-educational institution, situated in Frankfield in the deep-rural, north-western region of the parish, revelled in the spotlight once again.

Girls’ Captain Leana Lewis who, like her teammates, sported a T-shirt bearing the words “Champions Forever”, said competitors gave it their all.

“The girls have been working hard all season and training hard and I’m glad we went out there and fought like soldiers,” she said.

“I want to thank the school for the support, and the parents and everyone who have been supporting us. We will continue to go out there and bring pride to our schoolmates,” Lewis added.

Girls’ track and field Head Coach Michael Dyke, the engine behind the school’s outstanding run, said the novel coronavirus pandemic denied them a title two years ago when the Championships was cancelled. He then gave an ominous warning to would-be challengers.

“We were robbed by one in 2020 by COVID, but that’s okay. We are preparing ourselves to celebrate a decade of victories come next year,” he said.

The boys’ team, guided by Head Coach Leon Powell, also enjoyed some success. The boys finished fifth with 95 points, bettering their seventh-place showing last year.

Powell, who told the Observer he has been a member of the coaching staff at Edwin Allen for about six years and took over as head coach of the boys for the past two and a half seasons, said progress has been attributed to new techniques and renewed belief within the team.

“I’ve educated myself further, done some courses and got some new information, and just applied what I’ve learnt in those courses, compared to what I’ve been doing in the past,” he said.

“The athletes are also now believing that they can do it and [are] believing in what we are doing. Those are the main reasons for the improvement of the team overall. There is improvement all-round — on the track and also in the field,” the coach added.

Despite the euphoria, the Edwin Allen principal emphasised to the Observer that focus will be on academic progress, because it is “the real reason schools have been set up”.

Harris added: “What I’ll be doing going forward is certainly to try to balance the sports programmes with academics because if we are not careful, we expend our limited resources on the sporting disciplines and I don’t want to fall into that mode,” he reasoned.