Dyke has high hopes for Class Three sprint relay

Last year, Edwin Allen High’s sprint relay quartet of Saleica Myles, Tina Clayton, Serena Cole, and Tia Clayton created history by becoming the first Class Three team to dip under 45 seconds. The Michael Dyke-coached girls did so on four occasions in 2018 – at the Central Championships, Gibson Relays, ISSA Boys and Girls’ Championships, and the UTech Classics, with their fastest time, 44.71, coming at ‘Champs’.

This season, the team has already gone under the 45-second barrier but with a different combination. At the January 19 Central Hurdles and Relays meet at G.C. Foster College, the quartet, which now includes Britney Johnson (ahead of Myles who is up in class), sped to 44.86 to break its one-year-old meet record of 45.36. According to Dyke, his Class Three quartet is a very special group.

“This set of girls is very special, and I was not surprised at the time last Saturday. The synergy among them is great, and they could go very low 44 this year. What I like about them is that they are so used to each other that there is no glitch in their passing.”

Defending champions Edwin Allen are expected to be challenged strongly by many-time girls’ champions Holmwood Technical this year, but Dyke said that his team is getting into high gear after good performances last Saturday. “We did not do that well at the Kirkvine meet on January 12. Based on where we were in the programme, I was not surprised that Holmwood dominated there because that is where they do their training, and with their large home crowd coming out, they wanted to let them feel good, and as the coach said, they were going into that meet with guns blazing, and we decided to stay out of the firing line,” he said.

“We are extremely pleased with last Saturday’s relay and field event performances. That shows we are back on track and I like how things are developing. Things will definitely be getting better in the upcoming days. We still have more work to do but we are right where we want to be,” stated Dyke.