All hail the Prince!
St Jago High School’s Gregory Prince scorched the track to land gold in the Class One 400m final on Thursday’s third day of the five-day ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships.
Staged inside Kingston’s National Stadium, the Bertland Cameron-coached star worked his way to the lead approaching the 250m mark and he held his form nicely to stop the clock at 45.99 seconds, ahead of Jamaica College’s Deandre Watkin (46.50 seconds), running out of lane one, with third place going go Shemar Palmer of Manchester High School.
In the girls’ equivalent, Dejanae Oakley of Clarendon College ran a steady race from the start to win in 51.81 seconds ahead of Hydel High’s Oneika McAnnuff (52.38 seconds and Kaylia Kelly of Vere Technical High with 53.39 seconds.
At the end of the day and heading into Friday’s penultimate day, defending champions Edwin Allen High extended their lead in the points table after 16 finals, while Kingston College (KC) look all set to dethrone Jamaica College (JC) after 15 events scored.
Edwin Allen lead with 123 points, 40 ahead of Hydel High, with St Jago just a point further back on 82. Holmwood Technical are next on 57 points, followed by Wolmer’s High School for Girls on 36, followed by Immaculate (27), the same as Excelsior High.
St Catherine High come next with 22, Camperdown (19) and Mount Alvernia complete the top 10 with 15.
Read More: Day 2: Boys and Girls Champs heats up as Edwin Allen, Kingston College take early lead
KC, with 131, are just shy of 40 points ahead of JC with 92.33, followed by Calabar (53), St Jago (51), Edwin Allen (38), St Elizabeth Technical High School (29), Manchester High 11 and St Catherine on 15 points.
Elsewhere on Thursday, Abigail Campbell of Fern Court High won the Class Two 400m final in 53.75 seconds. Edwin Allen’s Natasha Fox was second in 54.26 seconds and Alliah Baker finished in third with 54.44 seconds.
The Class Three version was won by Sabrina Dockery of Lacovia with 54.76 seconds. Rosalee Gallimore of Holmwood Technical was second in 55.47 seconds, with teammate Abrianna Wright getting third in 55.97 seconds.
KC have extended their lead atop the points table and the pair of Marcinho Rose (48.03 seconds) and Tahj-Marques White was instrumental with the 16 points from finishing first and second, respectively, in the Class Two event.
In Class Three, Troydian Flemmings of Manchester High won in 50.25 seconds ahead of Samuel Creary of Jamaica College (51.06 seconds) and Demarco Bennett of Excelsior High (51.12 seconds).
Off the track, Wolmer’s High School for Girls, claimed the top two places in the Class Three high jump final.
Shanniqua Williams took the gold medal with 1.74m, with teammate Danielle Noble next after clearing 1.71m. Third place went to Asia McKay of Edwin Allen with 1.71m.
The Class Four long jump final was won by Alexia Williams of St Jago with 5.36m. Hydel’s Sashana Johnson (5.27m) was second and Yasheika Sinclair next with 5.23m.
The Class Two event was won by Aaliyah Foster of Mount Alvernia with a leap of 6.03m. Jade-Ann Dawkings was next with 5.82m and Donielia Lewis was third with 5.65m.
The girls’ javelin Open was won by Jamora Alves of St Jago with 40.30m. Monifa Edwards of Edwin Allen was next with 38.90m, and Natalie Albert finished third with 37.14m.
Trevor Gunzell of Edwin Allen won the Class One discus throw with 61.65m. Kobe Lawrence of Calabar High was second with 60.92m and third was Christopher Young with 57.66m.
JC’s Zachary Campbell won the Class Two shot put with 19.13m. Rajay Hemmings of St Catherine was next with 16.74m and Matthew Blake of Calabar finished third with 15.63m.
