Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer
Kingston College's Class One 4x100m relay team (centre) powering to victory in a record 40.38 seconds at Saturday's 30th Gibson Relays at the National Stadium. St. George's College (left) were second. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
KINGSTON COLLEGE (KC) boys and Holmwood's girls were the most impressive high schools teams at Saturday's 30th staging of the Gibson Relays, held inside the National Stadium.
KC won four relays, two in record time, while Holmwood's girls broke two records in their two wins as six records tumbled in the high schools section.
Holmwood Technical's 4x400m girls' team ran 3:35.68 to erase their own five-year-old mark of 3:37.04, to beat Edwin Allen (3:39.70) and Vere (3:41.37) respectively.
The Christiana-based school's 4x800m team, who included World Junior 400m bronze medallist Sonia Sutherland and CARIFTA Games 4x400m gold Bobbie-Gaye Wilkins, ran a record 8:48.96 to finish ahead of Edwin Allen (8:49.99), which also went under the previous mark of 8:50.02.
Kingston College's Class One sprint relay team ran 40.38 to beat big favourites Camperdown, who failed to finish, and fourth-place Holmwood
(41.30) who ran a very poor race. KC's time erased the previous 14-year mark of 40.49 set by Jamaica College in 1992.
RECORD BOOKS
The boys from North Street also placed themselves in the record books for winning the Class Three sprint relay in 44.04 seconds, to beat the 45.35 mark Calabar set last year. They finished ahead of Calabar, 44.50, and Bridgeport, 44.69.
St. Jago's boys Class Two 4x100m team, with CARIFTA Games Under-17 double sprint champion Yohan Blake, ran 41.66 to rewrite the previous mark of 41.70. They beat Calabar, 41.94, and KC, 42.55.
Manchester broke the Class Three 4x100m record with their 46-second flat clocking, beating Edwin Allen ( 47.53) and St. Jago (47.55).
Holmwood's boys won the 4x400m in 3:13.48 over Claude McKay (3:14.57) and KC (3:15.97).
Vere's girls took the Class One sprint relay in 47.31, this ahead of Queen's (48.07) and St. Jago (48.98). Big favourites and dethroned champions Holmwood dropped the baton.
Edwin Allen won the Class Two equivalent in 45.35 over St. Jago (45.70), while Manchester took the Class Four sprint relay in 49.10 over St. Jago 50.08.
In the boys' 4x200m, KC took the Class Four event in 1:37.90 over Calabar, 1:38.28, and Class Three in 1:33.76 over Calabar, 1:33.76, while St. Jago took Class Two (1:28.93) and Camperdown (1:24.93) won in Class One.
St. Jago's girls, with World Youth 100m hurdles silver medallist Natasha Ruddock and World Youth 200m bronze medallist Latoya King, took the girls' 4x200m Open in 1:37.72 ahead of Edwin Allen (1:37.73).
Meanwhile, Asafa Powell and his MVP team broke the men's institution 4x100m record by running 39.18 seconds. Though it was a lot slower than their Western Relays time of 38.78, it was good enough to break the previous mark of 39.24, set by University of Technology (UTech) in 2004.
POWELL SHINES
UTech led MVP on the final leg before Powell blew past the field. UTech ended second in 39.58 ahead of High Performance Training Centre (HPTC) in 40.02.
MVP's women's team of World Championships 100m hurdles bronze medallist Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Olympic sprint relay gold medallist Sherone Simpson, national 400m champion Shericka Williams and Nyoka Cole, also set a new mark in the 4x100m.
They stopped the clock in 43.60, well ahead of G.C. Foster College (47.52) to beat the old mark of 45.43 set by UTech last season.
HPTC, with World Junior 200m record holder Usain Bolt and World Junior 400m bronze medallist Jermaine Gonzales, won the men's mile relay in 3:06.71 ahead of G.C. Foster with national 400m champion Lansford Spence (3:07.18).
National champion Shericka Williams won her pet event, the 400m, in a record 52.17, erasing Olympian Cathy Rattray-Williams' 13-year-old mark of 53.16 seconds.
Simpson won the women's 100m in 11.22 seconds ahead of her teammate Nyoka Cole (11.61), while Carl Barrett (10.32) of G.C. Foster College took the men's 100m.
National representative Peta-Gaye Beckford leapt 6.14m to win the women's long jump over Yanique Levy (6.06m).
