Champs To The Caribbean - Promising Regional Athletes Head To Jamaican Schools And Dominating Marquee Event.....Zharnell Hughes & Delano Williams 2 examples....at most track and field championships, the men's 100m, has been quietly erased at the premier high school track event in the world. Is this good or bad for the sport in JAMAICA?

Published Sunday March 30, 2014. Ryon Jones, Staff Reporter

KC's Anguillan, Zharnel Hughes

Jamaica's dominance in the marquee event at most track and field championships, the men's 100m, has been quietly erased at the premier high school track event in the world.

The ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championship is widely accepted as the best meet of its kind in the world, but for the past three years the marquee event, the Class One 100m, has not had a Jamaican champion.

The latest winner was Kingston College's Anguillan, Zharnel Hughes, who won last Friday with a 10.12-second clocking to better the old record of 10.21 set by Yohan Blake in 2007.

In 2012 and 2013, the races were won by Delano Williams of the Turks and Caicos Islands, who was representing Munro College.

Williams, who now represents Great Britain, went on to win the sprint double, as he captured the 200m on both occasions.

He has remained in Jamaica to train at the Glen Mills-led Racers Track Club, home of World and Olympic champion Usain Bolt and Blake. It is also the training base for Hughes.

Both Williams and Hughes have local connections as their mothers are Jamaican, but that is not the only thing that pulled them to the island to compete in the world-renowned 'Champs'.

ISSA General Secretary Garth Gayle, who has also been an official at Champs for the past 36 years and assistant meet manager for the last 15 years, believes that given the global environment, we are likely to see more youngsters coming here to attend schools and take part in the meet. more