Mon | May 4, 2026

Western Relays rumble ends on high

Published:Monday | February 14, 2022 | 12:07 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
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Herbert Morrison High of Montego Bay win the Class Four 4x100m in 48.93 seconds at last Saturday’s Western Relays. The meet was held at the G.C. Foster College in Spanish Town.
Kenyon Hemans
Herbert Morrison High of Montego Bay win the Class Four 4x100m in 48.93 seconds at last Saturday’s Western Relays. The meet was held at the G.C. Foster College in Spanish Town.
Nicholas Francis of Kingston College completes the final leg of the Class One boys’ 4x100m at last weekend’s Western Relays at the G.C. Foster College in Spanish Town. KC won in 41.27 seconds.
Kenyon Hemans
Nicholas Francis of Kingston College completes the final leg of the Class One boys’ 4x100m at last weekend’s Western Relays at the G.C. Foster College in Spanish Town. KC won in 41.27 seconds.
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The 43rd staging of the Western Relays ended with a bang at the meet’s home away from home, the Spanish Town-based G.C. Foster College, at the weekend. Edwin Allen High School and Kingston College (KC) dominated the proceedings, but it was a cameo by Jamaica College (JC) that stole the show at the end.

On the same track a week earlier, JC’s Vincentian Class One 800 metres ace Handal Robban clocked one minute 52.12 seconds and said: “Just shaking the dust off and getting ready for the bigger things ahead, like Gibson Relays 4x800m. My team is ready.”

Khandale Frue, J’Voughn Blake, Omarion Blake and Robban confirmed the statement with a record run of seven minutes 36.76 seconds to defeat a strong Kingston College team. Blake pulled back a stubborn Giovouni Henry with a 1.51.7-second leg, and Davis stretched away to give Robban an easy job on the last leg.

KC were solid in second place in 7.38.64, tying the old meet record set by another KC quartet.

Holmwood Technical led at halfway in the girls’ 4x800m, but Rushana Dwyer regained the ascendancy for Edwin Allen with a two minutes 09.5 seconds leg that gave Jessica McLean a one-step advantage. McLean, an outgoing senior, held on and Edwin Allen clocked eight minutes 48.57 seconds, a fine time for this point in the season.

This win gave Edwin Allen a sweep of all the girls’ relays. In Class One, Serena Cole, Tia Clayton, Brandy Hall and World Under-20 100m champion Tina Clayton won the 4x100m in 44.31 seconds, with their young teammates in Classes Two, Three and Four producing times of 46.82, 46.70, and 48.90 seconds, respectively. Coached by Michael Dyke, Edwin Allen took the sprint medley as well with a strong effort timed in four minutes 04.59 seconds, thanks in part to Cole’s blistering 200 metres leg.

Cole and the Clayton twins had helped Jamaica set a World Under-20 record last year.

To sweeten the pot, Edwin Allen lowered their own season-leading time in the 4x400m, from three minutes 44.80 seconds to three minutes 42.48 seconds, to win by a Spanish Town mile.

KC dominated the boys’ competition, but had more trouble. A dropped baton at the first exchange defeated their Class Four 4x100m team, but the Purples then rattled off wins in Class One at 41.27 seconds, Class Two in 43.20, and Class Three in 45.38 seconds. In addition, KC took the medley in 3.32.41.

Herbert Morrison High took the Class Four 4x100m in 48.93 seconds.

KC also beat the season-leading time in the 4x400n, three minutes 14.43 seconds, but found Excelsior High too hot to handle. With Malachi Johnson on anchor, Excelsior shrugged off the challenge to complete the journey in three minutes 12.02 seconds, 0.68 hundredths of a second ahead of KC.

In the women’s 4x400m, 2018 World Indoor 400m finalist Tovea Jenkins, Ashley Williams, 2016 World Under-20 champion Tiffany James-Rose, and oft-injured Yanique McNeil combined to give SprinTec Track Club the win in three minutes 34.54 seconds.