FROM THE PUBLISHER

Edwin Allen celebrates
By: Oliver ‘Elmo’ Harris
In an exciting Girls’ Championship competition,
Edwin Allen High School successfully
defended their title and has now
won three consecutive Championships.
The Michael Dyke-coached team was particularly
dominant in the sprint, middle distance
and hurdling events and was quite
competitive in the throws and jumps. As
expected, their main competition came
from Hydel, St. Jago and Holmwood, but
these teams were just not strong enough
to upset Edwin Allen.
The Hydel team was a balanced one, scoring
in most events, they again placed second
to the champions, and will continue
to be the main threat to Edwin Allen’s
dominance. St. Jago placed third, but their
problems in the middle and long distance
events continue and until they overcome
them, they will not be able to mount a serious
challenge to the top two teams.
Although Edwin Allen won by over sixty
points, they were challenged by a spirited
Hydel team during the first few days.
In fact after day two, Hydel led the Girls’
Championship race and even when Edwin
Allen took the lead, Hydel kept scoring critical
points to stay within striking distance
of the defending champions. Things got
even more interesting when Edwin Allen’s
top sprinter Patrice Moody was disqualified
from the 200M finals for a lane violation;
and when their unbeaten Class Four
sprint relay team dropped the baton in the
semifinals, track fans started wondering if
that was the beginning of an Edwin Allen
implosion. But the team remained calm
and continued to extend their lead over
their rivals and built up a commanding 40
point lead on the penultimate day. On the
final day, there were no more major mishaps
and Edwin Allen coasted to a 67 point
victory.
Even though the victorious Edwin Allen
team was a balanced one, they were particularly
strong in Classes Two and Three.
In Class Three, they were led by sprint
champion Kevona Davis and middle distance
queen Cemore Donald. Davis won
the sprint double in spectacular fashion
and Donald was even more dominant in
the middle distance races where she came
close to breaking the Class Three record in
the 800M.
Annia Ashley, in her first year in Class Two,
repeated last year’s feat of winning gold
medals in both the long and high jumps.
Former sprint champion Shellece Clarke
was recovering from injury and was not at
her best in the Class Two sprints, but her
teammate Kemoy Farquharson filled the
void and scored critical points for her team.
She won silver and bronze medals in the
100M and 200M events. The senior athletes
were not to be outdone, and Patrice
Moodie, Theresa Jacobs, Ashani Robb
and Janiel Moore also had outstanding
Championship performances in Class
One.
Although Edwin Allen’s athletes dominated
the meet, there were great performances
from athletes at other contending schools.
Janell Fullerton of St. Jago was a double
gold medal winner after capturing the
heptathlon open and Class One shot put
titles, while Sashieka Steele of Holmwood
captured the 100M and 200M sprint titles
in Class Four. The Hydel challenge was led
by Samara Spencer who won the long and
triple jump events and placed third in the
high jump, while young Gabrielle Matthews
was just as impressive as her schoolmate,
winning the Class Four hurdles title
and placing second in the 100M and 200M
sprints. Vere Technical’s Britnie Dixon did
not win a gold medal at last year’s Championships,
but captured two Class Two titles
when she won both the 800M and 1500m
events. Vere’s other star was Class Three
athlete Britany Anderson who was quite
a revelation. She broke the 80M hurdles
Championship record, won the long jump
title and placed third in the 200M.
But the champion girl of the meet was undoubtedly
Junelle Bromfield of St. Elizabeth
Technical. She won the 400M, 800M
and 1500M Class One titles and then went
on to anchor her mile relay team to their
first gold medal ever in the event.
It was quite exciting to see the reemergence
of Excelsior high school who placed
sixth at these games. Led by discus record
breaker Shanice Love and Class Four high
jump champion Shantae Foreman, Excelsior
showed that they intend to be genuine
championship contenders in the near
future. Western schools like St. Elizabeth
Technical, Green Island and Petersfield did
well at Champs, and we are seeing the
emergence of other schools in the region
like Rusea’s and Mt. Alvernia.
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