Emmanuel Christian Academy (ECA) wrote themselves into the history books when they won their first-ever Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA)/Little Caesars Pizza National Prep Schools Athletics Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday, storming to victory by 44.83 points.

Sts Peter and Paul finished second with 185.67, while the dethroned Hydel finished third with 184, Mona were fourth with 153.5, Our Lady of the Angels (OLA) fifth with 145, St Andrew Prep sixth with 139.33, Lannaman’s seventh with 102, Morris Knibb eighth with 75.17, Ardenne were ninth with 63, while St Theresa rounded out the top 10 with exactly 50 points.

ECA ended the first day of the two-day championship with a narrow lead of 4.5 points but were well placed to win based on the number of athletes they had qualified through to the finals on day two. They then produced an efficient performance on Saturday to romp to victory and end the 14-year stranglehold that Hydel Prep had on the trophy.

They were inspired by their star athlete Caleb Taylor who ended the championships with four gold medals. Building on the two he won on day one, Taylor snatched gold in the Class 1 boys’ 200m final before returning to anchor ECA to gold in the 4x100m final.

He ended the meet as the Class 1 boys’ champion athlete with 27 points, while his teammate Joshua Scott was tied for second, with Khalead Johnson of St Hugh’s High with 16 points.

On the girls’ side, Jessica Denniston of Mona Prep was the champion of Class 1 with 25 points, Gabrielle Morgan of Hydel was second with 18, while Niara McLeod of St Andrew Prep was third with 15 points.

In Class 2 boys’, Jesse-Joel Ingram of OLA and Zachary Hunter of Sts Peter and Paul tied with 16 points for first place, while Luke Nesbeth of Mona, Nathan-Neil Heirs of Hydel, and Reece Condison of Sts Peter and Paul Preparatory all scored nine points.

Jurne’ A Davis of Mona was top of the pile for the girls with 27, second went to Micah McIntyre of ECA with 11.5, while Amelie Nembhard of St Andrew was close behind with 11 points.

In Class 3, Rushawn Nathaniel Edwards of Lannaman’s was champion boy with 18 points. Matthew Barnett of ECA was second with 14, while Jaeden Gill of Sts Peter and Paul and Johnathan Stennett of Liberty Learning Centre both finished with 10 points.

Anastassia Riley of Lannaman’s topped the Class 3 girls with 18 points, while Alayna Rodney of St Theresa picked up 14 points for second. Peyton Dean of Lannaman’s and Skai E Small of Mona Preparatory both scored 10 to finish third.

Head Coach Gregory Jones, who built the ECA programme from scratch, was delighted to be the one to end the long reign of Hydel Prep and claim the first title at these championships for his school.

“It feels good to be able to break the Hydel jinx. I’m sure that they are going to regroup, reorganise and come again next year, but it feels good to be able to get our hands on the trophy,” he said.

— Dwayne Richards