By Anthony Foster, Freelance WriterTHE BOYS and Girls Athletics Championships are just weeks away but one of the big questions is, can any team upset Holmwood's girls?
The girls from Christiana in Manchester won six relays, three at the Gibson Relays and three at the Poly Relays on Saturday. At the National Stadium where the Gibson Relays were held, the Holmwood A team won the 4x400m Open, 4x100m Class One and 4x200m Class One whereas their select team dished out the same treatment in Puerto Rico.
At the Poly Relays, held at the InterAmerican University, San German campus in Puerto Rico, the Maurice Wilson-coached girls, mostly field events athletes, broke two meet records which were set by the school last year.
In the 4x100m, the quartet of long jumper Andrine Miller, discus and shot put thrower Peta-Gaye Beckford, national junior javelin record holder Shaneka Parkes and Schillonie Calvert, the only specialist sprinter on the team, stopped the clock at 46.58 seconds to erased the old mark of 46.62.
WINNERS
In removing the mark last year's Holmwood team with Keva Wilkins, Nyoka Cole, Paula Mullings and Sheryl Morgan set, the girls from central Jamaica beat American Military (49.88) and Educational Complex (50.55). Holmwoods select team's winning time of 46.58 would have given them a comfortable third place behind Holmwood A (44.81) and Vere (46.28) at the Gibson Relays, this mean that come Champs, they should be untouchable in Class One.
The quartet of sprinter Sherica Mead, Calvert, Parkes and Beckford established another record in the mile relay; this in 3:52.50, bettering the 3:54.22 the team of Wilkins, Rose-Marie Whyte, Mullings and Cole did last year.
Holmwood defeated Albergue Olimpico-Salinas (3:58.17) and American Military (4:00.32). In the 4x200m event, Mead, Parkes, Miller and Calvert ran 1:41.86, but fell short of their record last year of 1:39.28. Again at Gibson, they would have finished third behind Holmwood A (1:37.05) and St. Jago High (1:39.44).
