MONTEGO BAY, St James — Six records were broken at the second staging of Comets International Development meet at Herbert Morrison Technical on Saturday.

Three of the records came in the sprint relays, while new marks were registered in two high school girls’ 100m races and the women’s 800m Open.

“It’s a welcomed sign that we are making some improvement, even in the performances. Given that we had less entries than last year we had hoped that we would have seen improvements by the young athletes,” meet organiser Aubrey Campbell told the Jamaica Observer.

Campbell said they were well aware of other meets being held in other parts of the country that would have impacted the number of entries.

“We spoke to a few schools and teams who told us they would have made arrangements to be elsewhere but we are more than happy to be able to accommodate the schools who either could not afford to [travel] across the country as well as those teams whose athletes were probably not at the level of preparation for those meets.”

Hosts Herbert Morrison Technical, Anchovy High, Maldon High and Green Pond were among the top high schools that took part. St James Prep, newcomers Johns Hall Primary, and Middlesex Corner Primary also did well in the junior section.

Rassiann Roach of Herbert Morrison Technical won the Class 1 Girls’ 100m in 12.77 seconds, beating the previous mark of 12.78 set last year by Latoya Walters, also of Herbert Morrison.

Phillian Gaynor of Green Pond High broke the Girls’ Class 4 100m record after she ran 13.30, bettering the 13.87 set last year by Kelesia Williams of Anchovy High. Williams was fourth on Saturday.

Maldon High’s Shania Frazer won the Girls’ 800m Open with 2:54.78 minutes, breaking the 2:11.34 set last year by William Knibb Memorial’s Dejuan Green.

The Anchovy High Class 1 Boys’ 4x100m relay team ran 49.09 to break the 50.56 set last year by a team from Knockalva Technical.

Herbert Morrison Technical broke the Class 3 Boys’ record after they ran 51.11 to beat the 51.32 set by Belmont Academy last year.

Two teams went under the old record 58.53 set in the Class 4 Girls’ 4x100m relay by Anchovy High last year. Herbert Morrison Technical won with 55.25 and Green Pond High were second with 57.79.

Herbert Morrison Technical’s Rassiann Roach (centre) wins the Girls’ Class 1 100m in a meet record 12.77 seconds during the Comets development meet at Herbert Morrison Technical in Montego Bay, St James, on Saturday. Also pictured are her schoolmates Mikayla Gordon (left) and Chrisanya Thorpe. (Photo: Paul Reid)