Holmwood show early form

Former ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships (Champs) girls champions, Holmwood Technical showed early season form last Saturday at the Central Hurdles Relays and Field events meet at GC Foster College with their 4x400 metres relay being the highlight.

The quartet of Rosealee Gallimore, Abrena Wright, Camio Whyte and Rickiann Russell led the way with an impressive 3:38.12 minutes to win the Open mile relay, leaving in their wake, Edwin Allen in second in 3:42.62 with Holmwood B third in 3:50.09.

The performance by Holmwood was one of the fastest times ever recorded by a girls' quartet this early in the season and head coach Dave Anderson was ecstatic.

"I am not surprised with the performance of the team because the girls have been putting in some real hard work since September. I am especially pleased about the performance of Russell who has been doing wonderful at time trials and I expect her to do extremely well this season once she remains injury free," said Anderson.

He stated that they will not be carried away by the performance but will use it as a platform for the remainder of the season.

The Christiana-based Holmwood had three other relay successes, getting the better of Edwin Allen on all three occasions.

Their first win was in a match race in the Open 4x800 metres relay as they clocked 8:52.99 minutes to turn back their rivals who did 9:05.40. Holmwood also won the Class II girls' 4x100 metres in 46.62 and Class IV 4x100 metres relay in 49.45 seconds with Edwin Allen clocking 49.88 and 50.17, respectively.

Edwin Allen, with their new-look Class I without Serena Cole, won in 46.11 seconds, ahead of Holmwood in 46.56.

Holmwood also had wins in individual events with Keira Meikle leading the way after clocking 13.77 seconds in the Class I girls' 100 metres hurdles as Santae Wilson of Edwin Allen, who did 14.03, ended second with Jerese Allwood of St Catherine High third in 14.17.

Edwin Allen's Sanyae Gibson along with St Elizabeth Technical's Habiba Harris and St Catherine High's Jamara Patterson also recorded good wins.

Gibson clocked 7:29.11 minutes to win the Open 2,000 metres steeplechase, Harris won the Class II girls' 400 metres in 57.41 seconds and Patterson was best in Class I with 55.71.

Among the boys, Edwin Allen's ace sprinter Brian Levell led the way in his first outing of the season.

He anchored them to success in the Class I boys 4x100 metres relay in 41.63 seconds, ahead of Excelsior who did 41.93 seconds and returned to win the men's 200 metres. His time was 20.76 seconds as the GC Foster College pair of Andre Dacres, 21.54 seconds, and Jaheim Diosi, 21.84, had to settle for second and third.

Defending Champs boys' champions, Kingston College (KC), had three good wins in track events with two in the 400 metres hurdles.

In Class I, last year's third-placed finisher at Champs, Antonio Forbes, was best winning in 53.03 seconds, ahead of teammate Shamari Jennings who did 53.12 with Excelsior's Daniel Wright third in 53.68. In Class II, KC finished first and second as Jordan Taylor won in 55.27 seconds ahead of Taj Oneil Gordon who clocked 55.79.

KC also swept the top three places in the Open 2,000 metres steeplechase. Ainsley Campbell won in 6:24.69 minutes, ahead of Schevron Wardlaw and Peter Clarke doing 6:44.02 and 6:52.31, respectively.

Jamaica College (JC) had a good day in the field, especially in the long jumps. Euan Young won Class II with 6.36 metres ahead of teammate Jaidi James who leapt 6.30. In Class I, Uroy Ruan won with 7.11 metres.