NOT even an hour after the brilliant anchor leg from Brianna Lyston on the Hydel High 4x400m team, in a World Under-20 leading 3:35.38 seconds, my phone began to blow up.

Lyston — who had broken the Champs record in the Class One 200m earlier in the day, running an eye-watering 22.53 seconds as the second fastest ever by a Jamaican junior female athlete, then running on the 4x100m that was third — got the baton well behind Edwin Allen High but almost effortlessly overhauled all who were ahead of her to win in one of the fastest times ever by a high school team.

All callers on Saturday night and Sunday morning were concerned about what they thought was the Hydel coaching staff “overworking her” and were in the process of “burning her out” with the Carifta Games a week away.

They thought with Hydel already secured in second place, they couldn’t win Champs and could not be passed by St Jago, so why bother to run her on the team?

My immediate reaction was that she was not being overworked. This is what she had been training for since August in the preseason, and if her Coach Corey Bennett did not think she had it in her to go out there and give an honest account of herself, I am sure that he would not have done so.

But I am not a coach, so to help me give a better response I spoke to a few coaches and those who know the sport better than I do. Thankfully they all agreed with me that running the 100m/200m and both relays at Champs were well within the ambit of a Class One athlete.

What I got from the calls were concerns, as those of us who have watched high school sports long enough have seen the overworking of child athetes.

But all they had to do was to look at the results that the Hydel athletes from Class One through to Class Four got; some of the best performances that we saw in the five days between Tuesday and Saturday last week was done in a Hydel uniform.

That alone should be enough to quell any fears of mishandling of anyone, including Lyston who produced one of the best 200m we had ever seen and who also gave Tina Clayton her biggest challenge ever.

How often have we seen Clayton not clear of the field after 75 metres?

Kerrica Hill in Class Two could have been the best performer of the week, first equalling then breaking the World Under-18 best in the 100m hurdles after running 11.16 seconds to win the 100m, beating her teammate Alana Reid who ran 11.22 seconds.

Both Class Two girls ran faster than the winner in Class One.

All four records in the sprint hurdles were broken on Saturday — three of them by athletes from Hydel High.

One of the athletes whose results that might have slipped under the radar, Shemonique Hazle who was third in the 100m final, had a slightly wind-aided long jump mark 6.27m (2.5m/s).

That is 6.20m with 0.0m/s wind and 6.26m with 2.0m/s wind.

But this is not a Corey Bennett fan appreciation piece, as Champs 2022 was a breath of fresh air and ISSA and the Government must be given the highest praise for what took place last week.

After late cancellation in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and last year’s sterile, behind-closed-doors staging, 2022 reminded us of what we missed and what we love and what we must preserve.

The lowering of the COVID-19 restrictions and allowing a maximum 20,000 fans into the stadium made a huge difference, and ISSA’s expertise at organising sporting events ensured the championships ran more or less smoothly.

Yes, Edwin Allen were going to win an eighth-straight title, even if the gamble of pulling Tina and her twin sister Tia out of the 200m blew up in Michael Dyke’s face as their replacements Bethany Bridge and Brandy Hall failed to get to the final.

Resting the twins ensured us of another one of the standout moments, a sublime 43.28 seconds 4x100m relay run — the fastest ever by a high school team — with Serena Cole and Hall joining the twins, even if at least one exchange was not as crisp.

Cole was a triple gold medallist as she won the Class One long jump and the triple jump Open.

Jamora Alves of St Jago High had the best-ever Champs by a foreigner, scoring 25 individual points as the Grenadian won the javelin Open and the Class One discus and was second in the Class One shot put.

Is it me or has the former “Sprint Factory” Camperdown High produced more medals in the throws than they have won on the track in the last few years?

All three 400m girls’ titles went to athletes from outside of Kingston — Sabrina Dockery won Lacovia High’s first-ever Champs gold, taking the Class Three title; Ferncourt High’s Abigail Campbell proved her win in Class 3 last year was no fluke by winning Class 2, and Clarendon College’s Dejanea Oakley ran a World Under-20-leading 51.81 seconds to win Class 1, in only her third 400m race of the season.

Mt Alvernia’s High’s Class two long jump winner Aaliyah had arguably the best celebrations of the entire week. She wore her heart on her sleeve for the last three rounds of the competition on Thursday night, putting her hands on her head with her eyes wide open when St Jago High’s Jade-Ann Dawkins retook the lead in the fourth round, then took off like a shot when she retook the lead with her personal best 6.03m a round later.

Seeing Carleta Bernard of Mt Alvernia complete eight races at Champs — three each in the 100m and 200m where she got two bronze medals, and two in the relays without limping off the track once — was pleasing on a personal level.

A seeming slight cramp at Western Champs in 2020 saw her struggle with injuries over the last two years and it must have been difficult for her and her coaches.