RECORD BREAKER!
Javier Brown takes Class One 400m hurdles in 49.86 seconds
Javier Brown of Jamaica College clears a barrier on his way to a new record of 49.86 seconds in the Class One 400m hurdles at the 110th staging of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/gracekennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships inside the National Stadium yesterday. At the end of the penultimate day of the five-day meet, defending champions Kingston College with 187 points lead Jamaica College by seven-and-a-half points in the boys’ category, while Edwin Allen High hold a 26.5-point lead over St Jago High School.
Javier Brown of Jamaica College (JC) broke the Class One 400m hurdles record of 49.94 seconds when he ran 49.86 seconds to win the final event on day four of the inter-secondary Schools Sports association/gracekennedy Boys’ and Girls’ athletics Championships at the National Stadium yesterday.
Brown raced down favourite Devontie Archer of Excelsior High in the home stretch and even had time to celebrate as he crossed the line.
It was an excellently timed race by the far-striding JC athlete who secured a massive nine points in a championship that is set to explode on today’s final day. Roshawn Clarke of Camperdown High was third in 50.93 seconds. Defending champions Kingston College (KC) picked up seven points after the injured pair of Rayon Campbell and Jayden Brown limped over the line.
But even as JC celebrated the record that closed day four of Champs, it was Calabar’s day to shine, winning four of the five field event medals on offer.
Javar Thomas got the ball rolling for Calabar when he won the Class Two triple jump with a best of 15.25m which he achieved on his first jump. Jaydon Hibbert of KC was second with 15.04m which was also done on his first jump. Meanwhile, Michael Curriah of JC was third with 14.61m.
Calabar tallied a total of 14 points from the event as Nathan Wade finished fourth to add five to the nine scored by Thomas, while JC tallied 10 after Matthew Hylton finished fifth to add four to the six scored by Curriah.
Calabar then finished first and third in the Class One shot put. Kobe Lawrence threw 19m on his final throw to cement first place after a shaky start that saw him with foul throws on his first two attempts. Christopher Young of Edwin Allen was second with 18.30m, while Denzs Simmonds of Calabar took the other podium spot with a best of 17.26m.
The pole vault Open went to favourite Kito Campbell of Calabar who had a best of 3.90m. Jafar Moore of KC was second with 3.80m, while Calabar grabbed another bronze medal when Julian Francis ended third on countback, after clearing 3.80m, the same as Moore.
JC picked up eight points after Nicholai Blossom finished fourth and Laurence Bigby finished sixth. KC finished with eight points as well after Verrol Sam added a point with his eighth-place finish.
The Class Three long jump went to Shamir Kelly of KC with his last legal jump of 6.82m, relegating Edward
Sterling to second place with 6.79m. Roshawn Omfroy of KC was third, as KC collected 15 big points.
Euan Young in fourth place and Jaidi James in eighth ensured that JC responded to KC with six points of their own.
The Class One triple jump was won by Luke Brown with 16.31m (+4.5m/s), Jhavor Bennett of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) was second with 15.56m, while Malik Drummond of Wolmer’s Boys’ was third with 15.12m. JC bagged another seven points from the event after Rajaun Ricketts and Apalos Edwards finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Jevaughn Cephas finished eighth to give KC a single point in their bid to defend their title.
The other track event was the Class Two 400m hurdles in which KC finished first and third while JC had a fourthand fifth-place finish. Antonio Forbes ran an excellent race to win in 51.84 seconds and though it appeared to be a KC one, a fast-finishing Shamer Blake, who is the Western champion, slipped past Shamari Jenkins to split the KC pair and take the silver medal back to Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth.
So, at the end of four days, KC continue to lead by slim margin of 7.5 points. Eighteen finals on today’s final day will decide where the Mortimer Geddes trophy reside for another year, with the odds heavily in favour of JC, who are expected to score big in all the remaining events of Champs 2021.