SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Retaining both the boys’ and girls’ titles at the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA)/GraceKennedy Western Athletics Championships last weekend is a step in the right direction says Dwayne Jarrett, the first-year head coach at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS).

After trailing following Thursday’s first day held at Cornwall College, STETHS amassed 338.5 points, 76 more than Cornwall College’s 262.5, after scoring only 159.833 last year. First-day leaders Munro College were third with 259; William Knibb Memorial, 255.5; and Herbert Morrison Technical, 176 rounded out the top five for the boys.

STETHS, who led the girls’ section from the first day, amassed 364.17 points, more than their 357.5 last year, as Mt Alvernia High moved up one place from third to second with 252.33 points, exchanging places with Petersfield High, 174 while William Knibb High maintained fourth place on 151.5 points and Manning’s School improved from ninth to fifth with 72 points.

Four records were broken over the two days of competition, with Munro College’s Class Three thrower Javontae Smith breaking both the shot put and discus throw records, just as he did in Class Three last year. His teammate Chad Hendrix broke the Class One discus throw record while Muschett High’s Johan-Ramaldo Smythe lowered the Class Two boys’ 200m record on the first day.

Jarrett, who has had stints at William Knibb Memorial, Vere Technical, and Manchester High, told the Jamaica Observer on Saturday it was an all-round team effort among the coaches to get the team titles.

“I’m extremely proud of the kids. They stepped up, especially on the boys’ side,” Jarrett said. “We know that, based on the first day, Cornwall College, Munro College and William Knibb all looked threatening but from this morning in the hurdles the boys really stepped up; as well as in the 800m they stepped up and represented and ensured that we were going to defend our ground and defend our championships.”

Winning at Western Champs was good, he said, but the bigger event is still to come.

“It’s always good when you can win your region going into the [ISSA] Champs. We know Champs will be a different thing and it’s more about quality than quantity — and we have that quality going forward,” he said.

Over the weekend he said the coaches applied themselves as “all areas stepped up and filled the gaps in places where we were short, so we had athletes competing outside of their best events in some cases”, he pointed out. “We didn’t really have the depth all around in the boys’ section and, as I said before, based on this weakness we have to make adjustments, so it was an all-round team effort.”

Two of the most impressive performances on the track came in the 400m finals during which Muschett High’s Shanoy Douglas ran 54.92 seconds to win the Girls’ Class Two gold medal, and Cornwall College’s Mario Birch stunned the Boys’ Class One field with a late burst to win in 49.13 seconds.

After throwing 18.21m to break the Class Two shot put record of 15.80m set last year by Petersfield High’s Ranaldo Anderson, Munro College’s Smith returned Saturday to smash the discus throw record with 55.57m, better than the 53.81m set in 2014 by Warren Barrett of Cornwall College.

Hendricks threw 58.95m to win the Class One discus throw, bettering the 57.50m set in 2014 by Petersfield High’s Glenford Watson.

Smythe, who won the 200m and was second in the 100m, ran 21.08 seconds (1.2m/s) in the first round on Thursday, beating the 21.24 seconds set by Antonio Watson of Petersfield High.

Meanwhile, there were a number of double winners. Lacovia High’s Sabrina Dockery and Mt Alvernia High’s Veneisha Pottinger secured the girls’ Class Two and Class One sprint double, respectively; STETHS’s Habiba Harris won the Class One girls’ 100m and 100m hurdles; William Knibb Memorial’s Nathaniel Wallace retained his Class One boys’ 1,500m and 5000m Open titles; Shanque Williams of STETHS won the Class One girls’ 200m/400m double; Cornwall College’s Kesean Rhooms won the Class One boys’ high jump and triple jump — both with new personal best marks; Junior Wright of Cornwall College won the Class Three shot put and discus throw; and Rondae Arnold of Manning’s School won the Class Four girls’ 70m hurdles and long jump titles.

Boys’ Top 10

STETHS – 338.5, Cornwall College – 262.5, Munro College – 259, William Knibb – 255.5, Herbert Morrison – 176, Petersfield High – 119, Maggotty – 63, Sydney Pagon – 55, Rusea’s – 52, Muschett High – 46

Girls’ Top 10

STETHS – 364.17, Mt Alvernia – 252.33, Petersfield – 174, William Knibb – 151.5, Manning’s – 72, Maggotty – 72, Herbert Morrison – 65, Lacovia – 63, Muschett – 54, Rusea’s High – 52