Eight records could be broken at Champs

The quality of performances at the annual ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships has always been high and this year will be no different. A number of records should be broken over the five days of the prestigious meet at the National Stadium.

Eight records are likely to go at the championships with the girls expected to steal the spotlight by breaking as many as six.

Hydel High School’s sprinting star Brianna Lyston looks set to erase two outstanding marks in the sprints. Based on her form going into the championships, Lyston should break the 21-year-old Class One 100 metres record of 11.13 seconds set by former Vere Technical athlete, Veronica Campbell-Brown, in 2001 and the 2004 200m mark of 22.71 seconds set by another Vere former star, Simone Facey.

Lyston has already gone below the mark set by Facey this season after clocking a blistering 22.66 at the recent Carifta Trials. Then a week later raced to a personal best 11.14 over 100m at the Central Athletics Championships at G.C. Foster College.

Wednesday’s 100m clash between Lyston and the Clayton twins of Edwin Allen High School could be the highlight of the championships. Fans could see the first sub-11 seconds clocking by a schoolgirl in Jamaica as Tina Clayton has a personal best of 11.09, a time she did in winning gold at last year’s World Under-20 Championships in Kenya.

Petersfield High’s Alexis James, the Carifta Trials under-20 100m hurdles champion, is also set for a record run. She won in 13.16 seconds at the Carifta Trials and will be eyeing the Class One Champs mark, 13.12, set by Edwin Allen’s Gabrielle McDonald in 2017.

Holmwood Technical’s thrower, Cedricka Williams, has been dominating her peers in the discus throw. Her season’s best of 53.91 metres in winning the Class One event at the Central Championships is longer than the Champs record of 53.04m set by Edwin Allen’s Richards in 2017 and the outstanding thrower looks set to write her name in the Champs history books once again.

The other two likely records among the girls should come in the 4x100m where the two hottest female teams at the championships, Hydel and Edwin Allen, will battle each other.

After their record breaking 44.62 in the Class Two 4x100m at the Gibson McCook Relays in February, Hydel look set to remove the one-year- old Champs record of 44.81 set by Edwin Allen last year.

Another extra special moment could be witnessed at the championships when the Edwin Allen quartet of Serena Cole, Brandy Hall , Tia and Tina Clayton take the track in the Class One girls’ 4x100m as fans could witness the first sub-43 seconds by a high school team. They could erase their own mark of 44.17 set in 2014.

At last year’s World Under-20 Championships, Cole, Tia and Tina Clayton were members of Jamaica’s Under-20 World Record winning quartet which clocked 42.93 seconds. With Hall set to join the trio, the same four who raced to a record 43.37 seconds at the Gibson McCook Relays in February look set to go even faster and sub-43 seconds is on the cards.

Boys’ records

A year ago new marks were set in the Class One boys’ 400m hurdles and 800 metres and both could be broken this year. Jamaica College’s Javier Brown clocked a record 49.86 seconds for the 400m hurdles last year and two athletes have gone faster than that time this season. At the Carifta Trials, Kingston College’s Rayon Campbell surprised Camperdown High’s Roshawn Clarke to win the under-20 event in 49.52. Clarke finished second in 49.85.

The time by Campbell is the second fastest by a Jamaican in the event at the junior level as only Jaheel Hyde has gone faster.

Captain of the defending champions Jamaica College, J’Voughnn Blake, will be hoping to inspire his team by setting a new mark in the Class One 800m.

A year ago, Edwin Allen’s Chevonne Hall raced to victory in a record one minute 48.58 seconds. Blake has been in terrific form all season. At the Carifta Trials, he stopped the clock at 1:47.62 and a sub-1:47 clocking is on the cards for Champs.