Winning 11 ISSA/GraceKennedy Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) in just over a decade would be enough for most coaches to relax. Few have dominated high school athletics like Michael Dyke and the Edwin Allen High School girls’ track programme since he took over in 2012. But Dyke isn’t the type to become complacent.

“I was probably given a gift from God,” Dyke told the Sunday Observer. “I love to help, especially student-athletes, to progress. Most of these kids are from poor socio-economical backgrounds and this is one of the things that will take them out of poverty and give them a future. I really enjoy doing that.”

Under his leadership, the programme has grown beyond Jamaica.

“We would’ve been able to recruit from abroad because Alexxe Henry is from Trinidad, we have a Dominican and two girls from Grenada,” Dyke said. “So the team has now taken on an international flavour, where we are now finding persons, not just ready to be recruited but requesting to come to Edwin Allen, which shows the strength of our programme and it’s now diversified to where we have become a household name and appealing to the wider Caribbean as well.”

Rival schools have grown stronger in recent years, which has made retaining dominance even harder. Edwin Allen had to recapture the title from Ferry-based rivals Hydel High, who won Girls’ Champs last year.

“I believe it’s in a good place because it’s now become very competitive and it’s not very one-sided anymore,” Dyke said. “So, it goes to show that growth and development has been taking place right across the length and breadth of Jamaica. Not just in the central region, but in the Corporate Area and western and eastern parts of the island. So it means that we have to plan more strategically and work a lot harder if we want to continue our dominance.”

The past year tested the team’s resilience. Training was paused after the death of student-athlete Taneisha Gayle in September until all athletes were screened and cleared to compete. Hurricane Melissa damaged parts of the school in late October, and weeks later, hurdles Coach Kirkland Douglas, who had served Edwin Allen for more than 20 years, passed away.

However, the girls pushed forward, with Dyke saying their objective of winning Champs this year did not change.

Their latest championship on March 28 was celebrated with a parade through Frankfield on Monday, with the school paying tribute to the community, which it says it relied on for support during one of its most challenging seasons.

Akaylea Brown of Edwin Allen wins the Class One Girls’ high jump event at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships at the National Stadium on Saturday, March 28. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

From left: Edwin Allen High School athletes Britania Barron, Tashana Godfrey, Head Coach Michael Dyke, Danelia Clarke, and team Captain Briana Morris, during the team’s celebration of their 11th ISSA/GraceKennedy Girls’ Athletics Championships title on campus in Frankfield, Clarendon, on Monday, March 30.(Photo: Naphtali Junior)

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