Eight records broken at last Saturday’s JC Meet
Kingston College’s Nahashon Ruto of Kenya announced himself locally accounting for two of the eight records broken at the Pure Water/JC/R Danny Williams Meet last Saturday.
There were also three new records on the books established in the new javelin event that was contested for the first time at the meet.
Ruto rewrote the Class Three 800m clocking 2:06.38 minutes, well under the previous record of 2:08.95 minutes held by Rajawan Davis of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) since 2019.
Ruto was almost two seconds faster than the second-best person, who was Kharsen Fraser of Calabar, who clocked 2:08.92 minutes, and also dipped below the old record. KC’s Jevonne Robinson was third-best in the times final, having won his heat with 2:09.66 minutes.
The 13-year-old Ruto returned in the Class Three 1,500m and lowered the 26-year-old record of 4:35.40 minutes set in 1996, clocking 4:33.52 minutes. He was nine seconds faster than the next best which was his teammate Jevone Robinson, who won his heat in 4:42.58 minutes.
Hosts Jamaica College broke three records as they showed their strength in the middle-distance races. The impressive Tyrone Lawson, who dominated Class Three last season, broke the Class Two 1,500m record of 4:19.80 minutes held by Andre Drummonds of Glengoffe High since 2003, by clocking 4:12.64 minutes, which is just below last year’s Champs Class One winner Khandale Frue of Jamaica College who did 4:12.16 minutes.
St Vincent’s Handel Roban of JC, who was third at Champs last year, broke the Class One 1,500m record of 4:01.44 minutes set by KC’s Aron Tanui, lowering it to 3:56.78 minutes, which is his personal best.
JC’s third record was achieved by Zachery Campbell in the Class Two shot put, heaving 17.95m. The previous record was 17.69m held by KC’s Zico Campbell since 2016.
The two boys’ 400m hurdles events records were lowered courtesy of Shamar Blake of STETHS and Brandon Harris of St Jago High. Blake won the Class One in 53.52 seconds, dipping under Calabar’s Dean Clarke’s mark of 54.92 seconds established in 2019. Harris lowered the Class Two 400m hurdles record of 55.92 seconds held by JC’s Robert Graham since 2019, clocking 54.12 seconds.
Simoya Campbell-Johnson erased the 1,500m record for clubs and institutions of 5:03.60 minutes and lowered it to 4:48.35 minutes.
In the javelin open events, Natalie Albert of St Catherine High won the girls’ section with 34.54m, while Christopher Young of Edwin Allen took the boys’ section with 59.16m. Xaavan Richards took the men’s event with 61.04m.