‘Eastern Champs is ours’
St Mary High lay claim on eighth title in a row
ST MARY High tightened their grip on track and field in the east when the Dwayne Williams-coached team won their eighth straight overall title at the Eastern Championships yesterday at the National Stadium.
St Mary High stormed to the title after amassing 684.5 points at the end of the two-day championships, leaving Titchfield High a distant second with 541.5.
Port Antonio High, with 303 points, Morant Bay High, 283, and Oberlin High’s tally of 270 rounded out the top-five teams.
On the girls’ standings, St Mary led the way after amassing 444.5 points with Titchfield trailing in second on 276.5. Oberlin High completed the girls’ top three with 178 points.
Titchfield captured the boys’ title, amassing 265 points to get the better of St Mary, who finished second with 240. Morant Bay High took third place with 180 points.
Williams sang the praises of his team on their title defence. He said this year felt particularly special after the team struggled with their preparations throughout the season.
“We’re in a jubilant mood,” he said.
“It has been a lot of hard work, sleepless nights and a lot of hurdles we had to get over this season. We had big issues with the weather, which cost us about two months of running on the road which led to a lot of shin splints, knee pains and a lot of injuries.
“We worked through it and a lot of these athletes came to championships about 75 per cent fit but they tough it out. So we came with a plan and we worked on it right to the end. Eastern Champs is ours!”
St Mary started the second day of the championships with an early lead, amassing 123.5 points with Titchfield close behind on 105.5.
However, they would l ater separate themselves by t he chasing pack, sweeping the girls’ 4x100m relays, breaking two meet records along the way.
They broke the Class One record, clocking 48.26 seconds before breaking the Class Two record in 48.27. They completed the sweep with Class Three winning in 48.36 and Class Four, in 51.09.
St Mary’s dominance would continue in the girls’ relays when they broke the meet record in the 1600 sprint medley, setting a new mark of 4:31.19 minutes. They would set another meet record in the girls’ 4x400-metre relay, finishing in 3:47.88.
Titchfield would find success in the boys’ 1500 metres, sweeping all classes.
Rhondrae Simpson l ed his teammate Escott Beckford to a 1-2 finish in Class Three, the pair finishing in 4:52.11 and 4:55.86 respectively. Anthony Dillon claimed the Class Two title, clocking 4:34.03 while Shavan Jarrett won Class One in 4:18.96s.
St Mary Technical closed the championships with an inspiring run in the boys’ 4x400m relay, pulling off an impressive comeback on the anchor leg, closing a 30-metre gap to beat Titchfield in a photo finish.
St Mary Technical won gold in 3:22.62, while Titchfield would have to settle for silver in 3:22.69.