GIRLS CHAMP EDWIN ALLEN : Edwin Allen in a flash Clarendon-based school shrugs off early challenge to comfortably cop fourth-straight title....XLCR Finished in Top 5 with 113 Points

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, April 02, 2017 

Edwin Allen staved off a furious attack on the final day of the 107th ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships to win a fourth-straight girls’ title at the National Stadium last night.

The Michael Dyke-coached team from Frankfield, Clarendon, withstood all the other teams had to throw at them to emerge champions with 306.5 points, beating second-placed Hydel High by 51.5 points.

2017 Girls Champs is Edwin Allen High- Clarendon

St Jago High were third with 246 points, followed by Holmwood Technical (238) and Excelsior (113), rounding out the top five teams.

With the 4x400m relay and Heptathlon also to be completed, and with Edwin Allen leading Hydel High by 52.5 points, Dyke admitted the race was tougher than they had anticipated, but was happy to come out on top. “This is a championship and things will happen... we dropped some crucial points at crucial times, but nevertheless, we did what we had to do to pull it out,” he said.

Dyke told the Jamaica Observer that his middle-distance runners “were the difference makers”, as they were the ones that “took us over the line”.

The battle for the runners-up spots between second and fourth was fierce with the teams swapping spots with almost every final contested, and St Jago High, after a fast start in the 400m and 200m finals, took over the lead and held it for a short time.

Winner's Dance

There were two records and two sprint doubles were completed in the 200m, while Edwin Allen High’s Kevona Davis atoned for Friday night’s false start in the 100m with a brilliant 23.07 (0.9m/s) seconds in Class Three, while St Jago High’s Brianna Lyston smashed the Class Four record with a 23.72 (-6.0m/s) seconds timing while completing her double.

Davis shook off the disappointment that cost her a gold medal less than 24 hours before, getting off to a fast start and was ahead of the field once they got on the curve and just ran away from the field to beat the 23.11 seconds set 16 years ago in 2001 by Anneisha McLaughlin of Holmwood Technical.

In a fast race the top four all ran under 24.00 seconds with St Jago’s Joanne Reid taking the silver in 23.39 seconds and Hydel’s Gabrielle Mathews the bronze in 23.47 seconds. Holmwood Technical’s 100m champion Sashieka Steele missed a medal despite running 23.76 seconds. more