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“Who spiked the Gatorade at Champs?” That was the question my wife greeted me with as I trudged through the door on Saturday night. I was coming in from the final day of the ISSA Boys and Girls Athletic Championship where so many records were broken my head was still spinning as I approached my front door. That final day, and indeed the entire week, is among the most exciting experiences I have ever had covering track and field.
I have been attending Champs on and off for close to 40 years and there are few that will linger with me like this one did. 1979, for sure, is one of the best, and I enjoyed Champs ’81 even though that one ended in a major brawl between Kingston College and Calabar. There have been a few other really good ones lately too and the last four were fairly exciting too but 2013′s edition was ‘off the chain’.
More than 30 records were broken during the championships, the most ever, more than 15 on the final day alone. All evening Saturday, people at the stadium stunned by the rate at which records were being broken, were asking me if the timing system was malfunctioning. But even if that was the case, you don’t need timers for the boy’s javelin, shot putt and high jump, events in which records were shattered. KC’s Zaavan Richards, C’bar’s Frederick Dacres, and Wolmer’s Christoffe Bryan respectively, were responsible for those three records. Clive Pullen in his final year at Kingston College, set a new mark in the triple jump and Edwin Allen’s Tarasue Barnett and Rochelle Frazer destroyed the discus and shot put records. That’s six records of the 30!
On the track things were insane. St. Jago’s Kimone Shaw destroyed the Class 4 Girls 100-metre record. She is 12 years old and blasted the straight run in 11.75s. She also took the 200 metres in impressive fashion blasting away the old record in 24.28 seconds erasing the four-year-old record of 24.62. At the conclusion of Saturday night’s fireworks, Olympian and World Champion Ato Boldon revealed to me at the conclusion of the five days of amazing competition that Shaw was the athlete who impressed him the most.
I have to admit that she did impress me too, but it was hard to say who impressed me the most. Delano Williams of Munro is the best combination sprinter I have seen at this level. He may even be better than Yohan Blake who when he attended St. Jago not that long ago was excellent in the 100m, 200m and 400m. Williams, who is from the Turks and Caicos Islands but whose father is believed to be Jamaican, starts to give you goose pimples the instant he starts to turn over those incredible piston-like legs that propelled him to 10.28s and 20.27s in the 100m, 200m respectively, and on his blistering anchor leg of Munro’s record-setting mile relay run. He didn’t break any individual records but when you consider what he was up against you can empathize. Blake’s 10.21 and Usain Bolt’s 20.25 are hard to achieve at this level but Williams came close; very close. I can’t wait to see what he will do under the guidance of Glen Mills next season.
I remember back in the day at Champs 10.86 would probably win a medal in the Class One 100 metres, but this is 2013 and young Jevaughn Matherson is only in Class 3 and he seems like a special talent. He now owns two of the new records at Champs as in addition to sharing the 100m Class 3 record, he made the 200-metre mark all his own blazing to a 21.87 win. The future looks bright for this youngster.
Shericka Jackson has always been a talented spinter but poor technique and injury have, I believe, betrayed her over the years. Under the tutelage of John Mair she seems transformed. She ran an impressive 51.60s to win the Class 1 400 metres and used that improved technique to break the 23-second barrier – 22.98 – over the 200 metres. She also anchored Vere’s mile relay team to a record run. Even though her team was a mile in the lead when she got the baton, her anchor leg run was still impressive. The youngster who has promised so much for such a long time, has finally arrived.
For years I have been lamenting about how Jamaica has fallen off as a contender in the 400 metres. It was not that long ago that Jamaica boasted athletes like Davian Clarke , Gregory Haughton, Roxbert Martin, Michael McDonald, all of whom were consistent sub-45 runners. More recently we have not been as fortunate or as consistent. Germaine Gonzales, Ricardo Chambers, Riker Hylton and others from this current crop possess the talent but most can’t seem to remain healthy long enough to compete with any level of consistency. And with Bolt, Blake and Asafa Powell making the short sprints so exciting and attractive more kids have been gravitating to the 100 and 200 metres, abandoning the quarter-mile run. With that in mind I was more than pleasantly surprised when Devaughn Baker of Jamaica College, Jaheel Hyde and Marco Doodnaughtsingh all broke Ramone McKenzie’s six-year-old Class 2 record of 47.24. The times of 46.64s, 46.93s and 46.95 respectively suggests, I hope, that we can one day soon start to deliver at the highest level in this event.
As you can see there were many impressive performances at Champs 2013, which would have given fans a lot to cheer about, but for me there were two performances from one athlete that will forever stand out. 13.24 and 49.98 are the numbers which will forever be associated with Omar McLeod. This Kingston College hurdler was the true star at these championships. He broke the 110 hurdles mark twice. 13.42s in the semis and 13.24s in the finals makes him the greatest sprint hurdler in Jamaica’s high school history. Consider this; Olympic bronze medalist Hansle Parchment’s national record is 13.12s. With a few minor adjustments McLeod, who is in his first season at KC after transferring from Manchester High, is ready to challenge that national record now.
In the longer hurdle event he became the first schoolboy in Champs history to break 50-seconds. It was an incredible performance. He had the stadium buzzing for hours on Friday night when he scorched the track and even prompted sports cable channel Sportsmaxx to offer their services to the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association in getting their streaming to stay up. Subscribers from all across the world had been expressing their frustration at not being able to see the championships that they paid US$4.99 to see but with McLeod’s record run potentially setting the trend for what was expected to be two explosive last days, Sportsmaxx stepped in to save the day.
McLeod would also play his role in Kingston College’s record-breaking sprint relay run (39.85), a performance that in a way added to the lore of Delano Williams, who came within a half-stride of overcoming a five or six-metre lead that saw Munro just falling short in 39.92s.
When I look back, there were so many outstanding performances. From Michael Ohara, who shattered the Class 2 110 hurdles record, Nathaniel Bann, who obliterated the Class 3 400m record, to the way Calabar held off stern challenges from Jamaica College and Kingston College and the manner in which Holmwood climbed back into contention for the girl’s title and stole home at the death by five points over 2012 champions Edwin Allen, Champs 2013 was memorable on so many levels. The way those performances had the 30,000 assembled on the final night in the national stadium, screaming and shouting cheering their teams on by beating drums, blowing horns and doing the wave, charging the environment with electricity; makes it, for me, the very best ever.
What do you think?
I have been attending Champs on and off for close to 40 years and there are few that will linger with me like this one did. 1979, for sure, is one of the best, and I enjoyed Champs ’81 even though that one ended in a major brawl between Kingston College and Calabar. There have been a few other really good ones lately too and the last four were fairly exciting too but 2013′s edition was ‘off the chain’.
More than 30 records were broken during the championships, the most ever, more than 15 on the final day alone. All evening Saturday, people at the stadium stunned by the rate at which records were being broken, were asking me if the timing system was malfunctioning. But even if that was the case, you don’t need timers for the boy’s javelin, shot putt and high jump, events in which records were shattered. KC’s Zaavan Richards, C’bar’s Frederick Dacres, and Wolmer’s Christoffe Bryan respectively, were responsible for those three records. Clive Pullen in his final year at Kingston College, set a new mark in the triple jump and Edwin Allen’s Tarasue Barnett and Rochelle Frazer destroyed the discus and shot put records. That’s six records of the 30!
On the track things were insane. St. Jago’s Kimone Shaw destroyed the Class 4 Girls 100-metre record. She is 12 years old and blasted the straight run in 11.75s. She also took the 200 metres in impressive fashion blasting away the old record in 24.28 seconds erasing the four-year-old record of 24.62. At the conclusion of Saturday night’s fireworks, Olympian and World Champion Ato Boldon revealed to me at the conclusion of the five days of amazing competition that Shaw was the athlete who impressed him the most.
I have to admit that she did impress me too, but it was hard to say who impressed me the most. Delano Williams of Munro is the best combination sprinter I have seen at this level. He may even be better than Yohan Blake who when he attended St. Jago not that long ago was excellent in the 100m, 200m and 400m. Williams, who is from the Turks and Caicos Islands but whose father is believed to be Jamaican, starts to give you goose pimples the instant he starts to turn over those incredible piston-like legs that propelled him to 10.28s and 20.27s in the 100m, 200m respectively, and on his blistering anchor leg of Munro’s record-setting mile relay run. He didn’t break any individual records but when you consider what he was up against you can empathize. Blake’s 10.21 and Usain Bolt’s 20.25 are hard to achieve at this level but Williams came close; very close. I can’t wait to see what he will do under the guidance of Glen Mills next season.
I remember back in the day at Champs 10.86 would probably win a medal in the Class One 100 metres, but this is 2013 and young Jevaughn Matherson is only in Class 3 and he seems like a special talent. He now owns two of the new records at Champs as in addition to sharing the 100m Class 3 record, he made the 200-metre mark all his own blazing to a 21.87 win. The future looks bright for this youngster.
Shericka Jackson has always been a talented spinter but poor technique and injury have, I believe, betrayed her over the years. Under the tutelage of John Mair she seems transformed. She ran an impressive 51.60s to win the Class 1 400 metres and used that improved technique to break the 23-second barrier – 22.98 – over the 200 metres. She also anchored Vere’s mile relay team to a record run. Even though her team was a mile in the lead when she got the baton, her anchor leg run was still impressive. The youngster who has promised so much for such a long time, has finally arrived.
For years I have been lamenting about how Jamaica has fallen off as a contender in the 400 metres. It was not that long ago that Jamaica boasted athletes like Davian Clarke , Gregory Haughton, Roxbert Martin, Michael McDonald, all of whom were consistent sub-45 runners. More recently we have not been as fortunate or as consistent. Germaine Gonzales, Ricardo Chambers, Riker Hylton and others from this current crop possess the talent but most can’t seem to remain healthy long enough to compete with any level of consistency. And with Bolt, Blake and Asafa Powell making the short sprints so exciting and attractive more kids have been gravitating to the 100 and 200 metres, abandoning the quarter-mile run. With that in mind I was more than pleasantly surprised when Devaughn Baker of Jamaica College, Jaheel Hyde and Marco Doodnaughtsingh all broke Ramone McKenzie’s six-year-old Class 2 record of 47.24. The times of 46.64s, 46.93s and 46.95 respectively suggests, I hope, that we can one day soon start to deliver at the highest level in this event.
As you can see there were many impressive performances at Champs 2013, which would have given fans a lot to cheer about, but for me there were two performances from one athlete that will forever stand out. 13.24 and 49.98 are the numbers which will forever be associated with Omar McLeod. This Kingston College hurdler was the true star at these championships. He broke the 110 hurdles mark twice. 13.42s in the semis and 13.24s in the finals makes him the greatest sprint hurdler in Jamaica’s high school history. Consider this; Olympic bronze medalist Hansle Parchment’s national record is 13.12s. With a few minor adjustments McLeod, who is in his first season at KC after transferring from Manchester High, is ready to challenge that national record now.
In the longer hurdle event he became the first schoolboy in Champs history to break 50-seconds. It was an incredible performance. He had the stadium buzzing for hours on Friday night when he scorched the track and even prompted sports cable channel Sportsmaxx to offer their services to the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association in getting their streaming to stay up. Subscribers from all across the world had been expressing their frustration at not being able to see the championships that they paid US$4.99 to see but with McLeod’s record run potentially setting the trend for what was expected to be two explosive last days, Sportsmaxx stepped in to save the day.
McLeod would also play his role in Kingston College’s record-breaking sprint relay run (39.85), a performance that in a way added to the lore of Delano Williams, who came within a half-stride of overcoming a five or six-metre lead that saw Munro just falling short in 39.92s.
When I look back, there were so many outstanding performances. From Michael Ohara, who shattered the Class 2 110 hurdles record, Nathaniel Bann, who obliterated the Class 3 400m record, to the way Calabar held off stern challenges from Jamaica College and Kingston College and the manner in which Holmwood climbed back into contention for the girl’s title and stole home at the death by five points over 2012 champions Edwin Allen, Champs 2013 was memorable on so many levels. The way those performances had the 30,000 assembled on the final night in the national stadium, screaming and shouting cheering their teams on by beating drums, blowing horns and doing the wave, charging the environment with electricity; makes it, for me, the very best ever.
What do you think?
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