THE BOYS AND GIRLS CHAMPS AWARDS
written by Oliver Harris
Based on performances, was this the best champs ever? What is not debatable is the fact that the performances of the girls is what has made the 2022 champs one of the most exciting champs as far as elite performances are concerned. These are the performers who really deserve an award.
Kerrica Hill (Hydel) – The championship MVP
On Wednesday night, Kerrica Hill blazed her way to 11.16 in the class two 100m, equaling the record set by Kevona Davis in 2018. This was not only a record run, but was even faster than the 11.23 winning performance of Tina Clayton in the class one 100m.
But the best was yet to come from the Hydel sprint/hurdler. On Friday night, she ran 12.89 over the 100m hurdles, not only breaking the champs record of 12.91 set by Ackera Nugent, but also equaling Nugent’s world youth record. In the finals on Saturday evening, she had arguably the best performance of the meet when she ran 12.71 over the hurdles, breaking her own champs and world youth record set the day before. This performance makes Hill the only Jamaican to break a world record at the 2022 championships.
Tina Clayton (Edwin Allen) – Never underestimate the heart of a champion
From the beginning of the track season, Tina Clayton had to listen to the local and international media stating that Brianna Lyston was the top junior sprinter in Jamaica. Lyston had run junior world leading times of 22.66 over 200m and 11.14 over 100m and most fans thought the 100m clash would be a mere formality and Tina Clayton would finally lose her first 100m race since 2019. Everyone seemed to forget that Tina Clayton was the world U20 champion, who had easily defeated favorite Beatrice Masilingi, two weeks after the Namibian had placed 6th at the senior Olympics.
In the semifinals of the class one 100m event, Lyston matched up with Clayton and cruised to an 11.28 seconds victory with Clayton placing second. But it was quite obvious that Clayton took it easy in the race. The finals did live up to the hype, with Lyston getting the better start, and Clayton joining her at 30 meters. From then on, both athletes alternated thee lead but in the last few meters Clayton kept her form and edged to an upset victory over the previously unbeaten Lyston.
The race was run in (-2.8w) a headwind and the 11.23 winning time was relatively slow. The scientific wind adjusters show that in zero (0.0w) wind, the time would convert to 11.00 seconds, obliterating veronica Campbell’s 11.13 championship record.
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Brianna Lyston (Hydel) – She had to make a statement in the 200m
When Brianna Lyston narrowly lost the 100m to Tina Clayton, track fans knew she would be desperate to break the 200m record. But just like in the 100m, conditions were just not favorable for record breaking. Nevertheless, Lyston went all out, and by the time she had come of the curve, we all knew she would threaten the record. Lyston completed the 200m in 22.53 seconds running into a negative (-2.2w) headwind.
That time not only obliterated Simone Facey’s 22.71 championship record, but placed her second to Brianna Williams (22.50) as the second fastest Jamaican junior athlete over the distance. To really understand the quality of the performance, a quick look at the scientific wind adjusters show that she would have run 22.28 (0.0w) and 22.14 (+2.0w). Even in negative wind, her 22.53 time would have placed her only behind Elaine Thompson, Shelly-Anne Fraser and Sherika Jackson as Jamaican female sprinters in 2021
Roshawn Clarke (Camperdown) – Sings the Redemption song
One could see the disappointment on Roshawn Clarke’s face when he lost the 400m hurdles race to Rayon Campbell of Kingston College at the Carifta trials. He had been dominating the event all season and was quite surprised when the KC man defeated him, running 49.52, ranking Campbell just behind Clarke’s training partner Jaheel Hyde (48.81) as the second fastest Jamaican junior in the event, while Clarke’s 49.85 had him fourth on the ranking chart.
In the finals of the class one event, Clarke was ideally placed in the lane behind Campbell and he made no mistakes this time around, running 49.50, “breaking” the class one boy’s championship record and placing him second on both the Jamaican junior list and the 2022 world U20 top list.
Although Clarke is now considered the class one 400m hurdles record holder, it has to be noted that Jaheel Hyde ran 49.01 at the boy’s championships when the 400m hurdles was an open event. But since then, the event is now run in classes one and two and for some strange reason Hyde’s performance of 49.01 as a class one boy is not considered the class one record. But there is some consolation that it is Clarke, Hyde’s training partner at swept track club who is now recognized as the record holder.
Oneka Wilson (Hydel) – Robbed of a world junior medal, breaks the champs record
Last year at the world U20 championship, Hydel’s Oneka Wilson easily won her semifinals in the 100m hurdles and was expected to challenge Ackera Nugent and Ditaji Kambundji for the top medals. But a covid positive result derailed her dreams and she had to watch the race from her room as her teammate Ackera Nugent won the gold medal while Kambunji fell to the track. She realized that the time she ran in the semifinals would have easily won the silver medal.
Wilson is also the class one defending champion, but had lost to Petersfield’s Alexis James at the Carifta trials. The race for the gold medal was therefore expected to be close. But Wilson dominated the race, in a new record time of 13.00, the junior world leading time in the event
Jaydon Hibbert (Kingston College) – The only Jamaican male to win a triple jump medal at a global championship
Last year, 16 year old class two champion Jaydon Hibbert, won the silver medal at the world U20championships in the triple jump event with a leap of 16.05 meters. This jump was also the world leading jump for a world youth (U18) athlete. This year while still a youth, Hibbert won the boys champs class one title with a leap of 16.66 meters. This jump is the world leading jump for 2022 in the U20 and U18 categories and places him 5th on World youth all-time list.
He is now Jamaica’s top youth and second best junior triple jumper, second only to former Olympic star James Beckford who leapt 17.29 as a 19-year-old.
Dejanae Oakley (Clarendon College) – She is back to her winning ways.
Last year, Dejanae Oakley won the class II 400m, narrowly defeating Oneika McAnnuff of Hydel. This year, Oakley was a no show at the development meets and rumors abounded that she was injured. She was absent for the Carifta trials and track fans thought she had given upon the 2022 season. She showed up at the Central championships, but only ran the heats, again feeding the rumors that she would be not be ready for the girl’s championships.
But Oakley did show up for the championships, and ran a blistering 51.81 in the class one 400m, the third fastest time record by a class one girl at champs. Only Holmwood’s Sonita Sutherland (51.13) and Vere Technical’s Sherika Jackson (51.6) had run faster.
Jvoughn Blake(Jamaica College) – The quest for the national record
Jamaica College’s Jvoughn Blake had run 1:47.62 at the Carifta trials, making him the only Jamaican junior to run below 1:48 since record holder Neville Myton’s hand timed 1:46.6 in 1964. Blake had stated that his 1:47 run at the trials was not his best effort and he was aiming to run 1:46 at the boy’s championships.
So Blake was expected to not only break the championship record of 1:48.58 set by Chevonne Hall of Edwin Allen last year, but to challenge the Jamaican junior record of Neville Myton. But the gusting winds at the championships derailed his record challenge and he had to be satisfied with equaling Hall’s boy’s championship record.
Brianna Lyston (Hydel) – Sprinting range on display
Lyston had shocked track fans at the Gibson relays, when she split 52.3 on her anchor leg of Hydel’s winning mile relay team. But fans were to get a bigger shock with her devastating leg at the girl’s championships.
Hydel had lost a member of their mile relay team to injury, and the substitute tried valiantly but could not prevent Edwin Allen and Holmwood from taking the lead at the end of the third leg. Lyston then took the baton and brought the house down with a 50.8 anchor leg, one of the fastest 400m splits by a female at girl’s champs.
Sprint Hurdles – The quality of junior female sprint hurdling is astonishing
The records of all female sprint hurdles were broken at these championships and one might think that based on world standards, they might me soft records. But that is far from the truth. The class one record of 13.00 set by Hydel’s Oneka Wilson would have won a medal at most world junior championships and would have ranked 4th on the IAAF top list for 2021.The class two record of12.71 set by Kerrica Hill is the new world youth record making Hill the fastest youth hurdler ever on the planet.
The class three 80 meter hurdles and class four 70 meter hurdles are not IAAF events, but simply events created for the girl’s championships. So it is not possible to compare these young hurdlers against any international standard.
Corey Bennett (Hydel) – Coach of the championship
Is Hydel’s Corey Bennett the most underrated high school coach? His school might not have won the girls championships, but the quality of the performances of his athletes is quite astounding. Hydel’s athletes won three of the four hurdling events, and all in record time. In class two, Kerrica Hill of course obliterated the world youth record of 12.89 running a blistering 12.71 while Oneka Wilson won the class one event in a championship record and junior world leading time of 13.00. Class four athlete Malayia Duncan completed the Hydel hurdling dominance when she won the 70m event in a record 10.38 seconds. St. Jago’s Camoy Binger and Briana Davidson denied Hydel the sprint hurdles sweep when they relegated Hydel’s Jody-Ann Daley to a third placed finish in the class three events.
But coach Bennett’s dominance was not only in the sprint hurdles. Brianna Lyston simply destroyed the class one 200m record of 22.71, running 22.53 in a -2.2 headwind, while Kerrica Hill equaled the class two 100m record of 11.16 set by Kevona Davis of Edwin Allen. Her teammate Alana Reid placed second in the event with a blistering time of 11.22.
Of course, these performances did overshadow Shemonique Hazle’s wind aided 6.27M performance in the class three long jump (+2.5w) which would have been a new record.
