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Calabar, Edwin Allen retain titles in pulsating "Champs 2015"

By Patrick R. Anderson

From the moment they seized the lead on Thursday, Calabar High signaled their intention.

But it was never a cake walk. Kingston College ensured that it was not.

And Edwin Allen absolutely left no room for their peers, dominatng the girls' competition from start to finish to retain their title by 100 clear points.

Calabar put on an exhibition of team performance and great sprinting, digging deep all championship long to repel the challenge of Kingston College to win their 4th straight ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys' Championship and their 25th title overall. Incredibly, Calabar has never won more than 4 titles in a row, and Saturday's victory emulated the feat accomplished more than 80 years ago.

The final points tally among the boys: Calabar 280 1/2 points, KC 265, JC 200, St. Jago 183, STETHS 132, Wolmer's Boys 68, Petersfield 50, Holmwood 44, Cornwall College 38 and Edwin Allen roundig out the top 10 with 34 points.

Edwin Allen totalled 321 points among the girls, Hydel High 221, St. Jago 219.33, Holmwood 206, Vere Technical 136, Wolmer's Girls 82 1/2, Manchester High 61, Alpha Academy 60, STETHS 51 and the vastly improved St. Catherine High 44 points.

There were sterling performances throughout these championships which produced 14 solid records, 8 among the boys and 6 by the girls.

Calabar's captain Michael O'Hara led the team from in front by winning his 4 events entered, the boys' class one sprint double ( 100m & 200m), the sprint hurdles where he defeated Jaheel Hyde, and the 4x100 metre relay in a record 39.08 secs.

But the performance of the meet seen by this writer, must be the 44.93 seconds engineered by Kingston College's Akeem Bloomfield to win the boys' class-1 400 metres. It was a new meet record and a new National Junior Record. The quarter-milers are genuinely back !

Javon Francis, formerly of Calabar, had established the mark of 45.00 secs only last year.

It was a race of sheer brillliance. Reminicent of Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley rolled into one. The way Bloomfield, dubbed "Zoomfield," attacks the first 200 metres, settles between the 200 metres and the top of the straight, and still has a lot of gas left to sustain his speed in the homestraight is a beauty to watch. Say a good word for Nathon Allen of STETHS who made Bloomfield go over the last 100 metres and in no small measure encouraged the record performance by Bloomfield.

Jaheel Hyde was sublime over the 400 metre hurdles, stopping the clock in 49.01 seconds for a new meet and National Junior Record, eclipsing his own mark of 49.29 set in 2014.

Calabar showed brilliance over the short relay sprint and the intermediate relay sprint, both resulting in record performances. Calabar's 39.08 secs to win the boys' class-1 4 x 100 metres and a another record, 3 mins 06.76 secs to win the 4 x 400 metres, were simply astounding.

Edwin Allen girls erasing the class four 4 x100 metre record twice, reducing it from 47.28 secs to 46.90 in the preliminaries, and followed up with 46.65 secs in the final.

Note must also be made of St. Jago's Peta Gay Williams who broke the olympic and world champion Melaine Walker's long standing mark of 13.56 secs in the girls' class one sprint hurdles. Williams cleared the barriers in 13.53 secs.

It was another reason to understand why Jamaica is viewed as a powerhouse in Track & Field. A template set 105 years ago when Boys' Championship got started.

In addition to multiple winner O'Hara, Kimone Shaw of  St. Jago returned to the top of her game with three titles, the sprint double and the 4x100 in class-3; Natalliyah White, also of St. Jago capturing the class one sprint double and the 4x100 relay; Lisa Buchanan of Holmwood won the 800m, 1500m and the 3000m, while Edwin Allen's Shellece Clark won the class two sprint double.

And who can forget, the brilliant Christopher Taylor, landing three titles, the 200m and 400m plus the record run in the boys' 4x400 m Open. He missed a fourth title when his team dropped the baton in the sprint relay preliminaries. They were the howling favourites to win the final.

Congratulations to the coaches, Michael Clarke of Calabar and Michael Dyke of Edwin Allen and their respective staffs.

But the 2015 edition of the ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletics Championships will be unforgettable. 



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