Boys and girl’s champs 2023 have come and gone, and it is now time to offer congratulations and awards to the top athletes and top teams. Kingston College has won the boys trophy and Hydel has done the same on the girl’s side and both teams are to be congratulated.
Kingston College easily retained the Mortimer Geddes trophy despite predictions that they would be in a ding dong battle with Jamaica College. But poor management, injuries and relay disasters quickly put an end to JC’s challenge, and by day four It was quite obvious that KC would easily retain its title.
On the girl’s side, things were a bit different. With injuries to top class IV sprinter Teixeira Johnson and class I sprint hurdler Shauna Myers, Hydel’s coach Corey Bennett knew his school had an uphill battle to climb. Disqualification in two relays seemed to have sealed their fate, but Edwin Allen’s coach Michael Dyke had his own problems, as injuries to top sprinter and long jumper Serena Cole and a medley relay disqualification caused him to lose valuable points, thus making the championship as close as it was.
It all came down to the 4X 400m, the last event on the girl’s schedule, where Edwin Allen had to win and hope that Hydel placed third or worse. Edwin easily won the event but Hydel placed second, thus winning the championship by two points.
Of course, one should never forget the performances of the small track schools. Maggoty scored 46 points, largely on the back of stellar performances of middle-distance stars like class III 800m/1500M medalist Jaden Brown and class II middle distance ace Yoshane Bowen who won the 800m and placed third in the 1500m.
Immaculate conception scored 94 points and did the unthinkable when they won the class IV 100m quinella with Kayla Johnson and Naje Brown. Other class IV athletes like Ashley Barrett (Long Jump gold) and Ayanna Blake (70m hurdles silver) ensured that Immaculate had their greatest championships ever.
TOP ATHLETE AWARDS
Alana Reid (Hydel – National 100m junior record)
Alana Reid won the class I sprint double, but it was in the 100m, where she created history. Her 10.92 run can certainly be considered one of the top two outstanding performances of the meet. She broke the champ’s record, the national record and is the 5th fastest junior of all time over 100m. It is just a pity that the 200m was run in a (- 2.0w) headwind, as she seemed ready to challenge former teammate Brianna Lyston’s record.
Bouwahjghie Nkrumie (Kingston College – National 100m junior record)
Bouwahjgie Nkrumie’s 9.9 seconds champs record run over the boys 100m is the other top performance of the meet. Nkrumie broke his own 10.02 national junior record and is ranked all-time as only the third junior to ever run below 10 seconds. Only Letsile Tebogo (9.91) and Trayvon Brummell (9.97) have run faster as juniors.
Delano Kennedy (Edwin Allen – 400m)
Last year in the world junior 400m semifinals, Kennedy ran 45.49 seconds, but then false started in the finals. When he false started (but got a reprieve) at the Carifta Trials a few weeks ago fans were worried that he might not be able to reproduce his WJ run. But at champs he dominated the 400M finals, running 45.27 seconds, making him Jamaica’s 6th fastest junior over the distance.
Rickian Russell(Holmwood – 400m)
What a transformation for RickianRussell in 2023. In 2021 and 2022, the former class III 400m champion was overweight and there was concern that Jamaica had lost another talented athlete due to weight issues. However, this year Russell worked hard to drop the pounds and her performances were astounding. She ran 51.26 at champs, the third fastest time by a Jamaican junior, eclipsed only by Sandy Richards (50.92) and Sonita Sutherland (51.13). The season is still young, and no one should be surprised if she breaks the national junior record.
Cedricka Williams (Holmwood – Discus)
In the most fascinating contest at these championships, Cedricka Williams (53.22m) broke the championship record of 53.04m set by Fiona Richards of Edwin Allen in flight one of the preliminary round. In the second flight, Abigail Martin of St. Jago broke that record with a throw of 55.19m. In the finals, Williams then reclaimed the record with an astounding throw of 57.84m, both a championship and national junior record.
The other top athletes who should be mentioned are as follows:
One the boy’s side, Malique Smith-Band (JC – class I 200m gold, 400m silver), Tahj marques White (KC – 200m and 400M double gold), Shaquane Gordon (C’bar – 100m and 110m hurdles double gold) and Ainsley Campbell (KC – 1500m/steeplechase gold) deserve special mention.
On the girl’s side, Jade-Ann Dawkins (St. Jago – LJ and TJ double gold), Kaydeen Johnson (Hydel – 3000m/steeplechase double gold), Jody-Ann Daley (Hydel – 400m/ 100m hurdles double gold) Kayla Johnson (Immaculate – 100m and 200m double gold) and Monique Stewart (EDA – 800m and 1500m double gold) deserve special mention.
SURPRISE PERFORMANCES
Class II boys sprint relay (Three teams under 41 seconds)
Calabar (40.41), KC (40.58) and STETHS (40.74) all ran below 41 seconds. Those times would have ranked them third, fifth and sixth in the class one race. The KC time is particularly astounding, because top man Tahj Marques White who won the 200m/400m double, did not run on that team.
Edwin Allen girl’s mile relay (3:31 second fastest high school performance ever)
Natasha Fox (54.0), Kacian Powell (52.3), Amoya Jameson (53.4) and Tonyan Beckford (52.1) teamed up to win the 4X 400m race in 3:31.78, a time that would have placed second at last year’s world juniors if they ran for Jamaica. This time is even faster than the Penn Relay high school record of 3:32.79 set last year by Hydel’s all-star team of Brianna Lyston, Alia Baker, Oneika McAnnuff and Kerrica Hill, 4 girls on the Jamaica national team. Only the 3:30.51 performance by the Vere Tech team of Sherika Jackson, Olivia James, Yanique McNeil and Andrenette Knight has ever run faster.
Nyron Wade (Kingston College) runs 21.9 in (-2.5w)
Nyron Wade was a top 100m athlete in class III last year, but injuries prevented him from winning a medal at champs. This year he had no noteworthy performances and was not even ranked in the pre-champs top 20 over 200m, but at champs he ran an astounding 21.9 (-2.5w) to win the silver medal in the class II boys 200m. That performance ranks up there as the most surprising performance of the meet.
Class I boys 400m (3 boys below 46 seconds)
Delano Kennedy (45.27), Malique Smith-Band (45.74) and Jasauna Dennis (45.87) all ran below 46 seconds in the class I boys 400m. With junior intermediate hurdler Roshawn Clarke having already run 45.85, Jamaica now has 4 juniors below 46 seconds.
Class I girls 400m (four girls below 53 seconds)
Rickian Russell (Holm – 51.26), Oneika McAnnuff (Hydel – 52.11), Kacian Powell (EDA – 52.76) and Tony-Ann Beckford (EDA – 52.88) all ran below 53 seconds. Beckford could be the only girl in championship history to run below 53 seconds and not win a medal.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
Rasheed Grant (St. Mary)
In the pre champs ranking, the Class III phenom was ranked 1st in the 800m (2:02) and second in the 400m (51.02). But for whatever reason, the 800m heats were scheduled one hour before the 400M finals. Grant was victimized by the schedule and could only place 4th in the 400m finals after running the 800m heats one hour before.
In the 800m finals, he was leading the race when his foot got tangled with Jaden Brown (Maggoty). He fell on the track and still got up to place 4th in an incredible time of 2:06. Assuming the fall cost him at least 10 seconds, he was certainly on course to run 1:56 or better.
The Habiba Harris (STETHS) Fiasco
At the Carifta trials, class II sprinter/ hurdler Habiba Harris pulled up in the heats of the 200m and had to be stretchered off the track. Surprisingly, she reappeared a few hours later to contest the 100m hurdles finals which she won, defeating world junior silver medalist Alexis James. That certainly was the biggest surprise of the meet, witnessing a class two girl who trains at the lower youth height, take on a world silver medalist at the higher junior height and actually winning the race.
At champs, instead of running the hurdles only, she again attempted to do the 200m/100m hurdles double, but her luck ran out when she again pulled up in the 200m finals. She appeared in the 100m hurdles finals an hour later but this time, was unable to finish the race.
INJURIES
Of course, injuries to medal contenders played a significant role, and one hopes that in future the extent of these injuries can be minimized.
Boys – Bryan Levell (EDA – sprints) , Javari McKoy (Fern- CIII 400m)), and Shemar Blake (Steths – hurdles)
