‘Edwin’ hold off Hydel to retain title at Central Champs

A thrilling battle for the girls’ title went down to the final event at the 2023 Central Athletics Championships yesterday at G.C. Foster College.

Hydel High went into the 4x400 metres open for girls just ahead of Edwin Allen High but placed third in the event and were overtaken by the defending champions. Edwin Allen won the event in three minutes 38.50 seconds ahead of Holmwood 3:42.28 and Hydel third, 3:44.40. Edwin Allen’s 12 points for victory was enough for them to leapfrog their rivals and retain their title by just 1.5 points. The final tally for the top five showed Edwin Allen on 357, Hydel 355.50, Holmwood Technical 330, St Jago High 203.5 and St Catherine High 165.5.

St Jago scored a runaway victory in the boys’ section to retain their title. They garnered a whopping 346 points, with Edwin Allen next on 176. Clarendon College 118, St Catherine 106 and Manchester 105 closed out the top five.

Michael Dyke, head coach of Edwin Allen’s girls, said it was a special victory.

“This win is very special as the level of competition was extremely high,” said Dyke, who added that the region had some excellent coaches.

The Edwin Allen coach said victory is a confidence booster going to the annual ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs)..

“The win will indeed lift the spirits of the girls and fans going into Champs,”he said.

Led by Alana Reid, the double sprint champion in Class One, Hydel threw out a strong challenge to the defending champions on the final day and won the sprint relays in all classes. .

Hydel won the Class One 4x100m in 44.99 seconds, with Edwin Allen second in 45.72 and St Catherine High third, in 47.13 seconds. They also took the Class Three 4x100m in 47.97, Class Two in 46.09 and Class Four in 48.94.

Hydel were also on fire in the 200m as the Corey Bennett-coached team won all four girls’ finals. Reid, who upset Edwin Allen’s Serena Cole the previous day to win the Class One 100m, closed the sprint double with a commanding win. Aided by a positive wind of 4.4 metres per second, she stopped the clock at 22.93 seconds for the win . Tonie Ann Forbes of Edwin Allen, 23.62, and Kamaria Knight (24.08) of St Catherine ended second and third, respectively.

The sprint hurdlers stole some of the the spotlight on the final day. Holmwood’s Kiara Meikle led the way among the girls and Marquise Page and Demario Prince of St Jago were the top performers for the boys.

CLOSE FINISH

Fresh off her 100m win the previous day Meikle clocked a record 13.16 seconds to win the Class Two 100 metres hurdles. In a close finish, Hydel’s Camoy Binger was also awarded the same time for second. St Catherine’s Jerese Allwood was third in 13.51. The previous record, 13.21,was set last year by Hydel’s Kerrica Hill. Hill went on to win the event at the World Under-20 Championships in Cali, Colombia. .

Competing in the Class Three 100m hurdles, Page won in 13.40 seconds to erase the old mark of 13.96 set by former St Jago High standout, Jahville Granville, in 2017. Vere Technical’s Shawn Palmer (13.74) was second while third went to Omar Baker of Jose Marti Technical, in 14.60.

Prince, a finalist in the World Under-20 110m hurdles last year, made it back-to-back records for St Jago after winning the Class 1 110m hurdles in 13.74 seconds to break the old mark of 13.76 set in 2020 by Rahyme Christian. Maleek Williams of Jonathan Grant was second in 14.61s, with third going to Shacquille Gordon of Charlemont High, in 14.93.