Kingston College (KC) reigned supreme inside the National Stadium on Saturday evening after winning their 34th Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships title.

KC, who led by 30 points heading into the final day of the championships, tallied 366 points to win ahead of rivals Jamaica College (JC), who tallied 299, followed by Calabar with 207.

The top three were followed by St Jago (118.50), St Elizabeth Technical (116), Edwin Allen (65), Wolmer’s Boys’ (60.50), Excelsior (57), Maggotty (46) and Cornwall College (31) to round off the top 10.

Leaford Grant, who was winning his second-straight title as KC head coach, said this year’s title was much more difficult to compare to last year’s triumph due to the fact that they had a lot of challenges entering the event.

“This one is better than the last one, all being that this year was a challenging year for us in how we went about preparing our athletes,” said Grant. “We knew that we have a lot of quality, but we never had a lot of quantity.

“I had to make some decisions at the Gibson McCook Relays, and I came under a lot of pressure for that, but we did it for the right reasons and it has paid off, because we are now champions this year again,” he said.

The vastly experienced coach also paid tribute to his coaching staff for their hard work and dedicated service to the team.

“I must big up the coaching staff because I have a dedicated set of coaches who worked continuously, tirelessly for us to really win this championship,” Grant noted.

Meanwhile, KC’s Tahj-Marques White was a double winner of the championships after he sped to 21.44 to win the Boys’ Class Two 200m event. White also won gold in the 400m event.

His teammate Nyrone Wade was second in 21.96, while third went to Ainsley McGregor of Wolmer’s, also in 21.96.

KC won the Boys’ Class One 4x100m relay with a time of 40.01 ahead of St Jago 40.40 and Edwin Allen 40.59.

Malique Smithband from JC produced a blistering stretch run to win the Boys’ Class One 200m in a new personal best time 20.90. Javorne Dunkley of St Elizabeth Technical High School was second in 21.40 and JC’s Jaiden Reid third in 21.52.

Smithband, who had an outstanding championships, captured a silver medal in the Class One 400m event on Thursday.

Calabar’s Shaquane Gordon was also a double gold medallist at the championships after he clocked 13.42 to win the Boys’ Class Two 100m hurdles event. He turned back the challenges of the KC pair of Kahiem Carby (13.59) and Daniel Clarke (13.80).

Gordon was also a gold medallist in the Boys’ Class Two 100m final on Wednesday.

St Jago’s Demario Prince led from start to finish to win the Class One 110 metres hurdles in 13.42. He won ahead of his teammate Andre Harris (13.79) and Daniel Beckford of JC (13.83).

JC’s Kemarrio Bygrave easily won the Class One Boys’ 800 metres in 1:51.84 minutes ahead of Barrain Smith of St Elizabeth Technical (1:52.23) with Ainsley Brown of Port Antonio High finishing third in 1:52.49.

Class Three Boys’ 800m went to Jayden Brown of Maggotty in 2:01.85 minutes, followed by the Calabar pair of Alejandro Palmer (2:01.90) and Carlos Brison (2:02.10).

Maggotty’s celebrations had hardly died down as Yoshane Bown returned a few minutes later to win the Boys’ Class Two event in 1:56.04. Joel Morgan from Edwin Allen was second in 1:56.44, while third went to Rashid Green from St Elizabeth Technical was third in 1:57.19.

FINAL POINTS STANDING

Kingston College 366

Jamaica College 299

Calabar High 207

St Jago High 118.50

St Elizabeth Technical 116

Edwin Allen High 65

Wolmer’s Boys School 60.50

Excelsior High 57

Maggotty 46

Cornwall College 31

Petersfield High 27

Herbert Morrison Technical 22

St George’s College 19

St Catherine High 18

St Mary High 17

Clarendon College 15

William Knibb Memorial 13

Titchfield 11

Munro College 10

BB Coke High 9

Vere Technical 8