JC impress with dominant display at season’s first track meet
Jamaica College (JC), who will be looking to regain the boys’ athletics championship in April, started the track and field season with a bang last weekend with some outstanding displays at the two-day Purewater/RDanny Williams/JC Meet at the Ashenheim Stadium in St Andrew over the weekend.
Head coach Duane Johnson was more than pleased with what transpired, as the Dark Blues reaffirmed their status as title contenders with a dominant, all-around display.
The likes of Joseph Salmon, Nasir D’Aguilar, Michel-Andre Edwards, Isaac Ried, Samuel Creary, Tariq Creary, Kai Kelly, Adrian Phillips, Jaidi James and Rickardo Lee all showed very good form in winning their respective events.
“Well, it was fantastic performances all around,” Johnson told the Jamaica Observer.
“It’s the most balanced our team have looked in years, so we’re encouraged about the performances and we just continue to work,” he added.
JC were highly favoured to win the 2025 boys athletics championship but ended third on 207 points, 22 points behind second-placed Calabar and some 86 points behind winners Kingston College.
Since then, JC have reinforced their coaching staff with Corey Bennett making the switch from Calabar and is now in charge of the sprints. Former 400m world champion Bertland Cameron also joined from St Jago High.
At last weekend’s meet, the improvement was obvious as JC showed quality and quantity in all areas.
“It is the first meet of the year, we still have another two months, but we’re encouraged with the start,” said Johnson.
“We just continue to put in the work and hope that when Champs come around, we will continue to perform at a high level,” he added.
Michael-Andre Edward was a double winner, capturing the Class One long jump in 7.20m and triple jump with a record leap of 15.58m. Joseph Salmon broke the Class One discus record with 66.32m.
Nasir D’Aguilar won the Class Two discus with 48.58m and Isaac Reid took the pole vault open with 3.30m.
Sameul Creary won the Class One 800m, turning back a very good field in 1:52.56, while Rickardo Lee brought the house down, beating the highly-rated Julius Itubo of KC in the Class Three 800m in 2:02.94.
Tariq Creary was fastest in the Class Three 400m with 52.00 while Kai Kelly was quickest in the Class Two 100m. Jaidi James won the Class One high jump with 2.00m.
