Milo executive Christopher Dodd (at right) shares the joy of the STETHS girls after presenting them with the girls' title at Tuesday's Milo Western Championship at the Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay. - photo by Adrian frater

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

ON A day in which four records were broken at the Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay, St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Herbert Morrison Technical on Tuesday emerged the toast of the Milo Western Championship.

The STETHS girls, who took home three of the four Class individual champion titles - Lashana Dennis (Class Four), Racquel Farquharson (Class Three) and Yanique Duhaney (Class One) - and the overall champion girl title, Judith Powell, accumulated a mammoth 496 points, 240 more than second-placed Herbert Morrison.

"This team is not as strong as some of the STETHS teams of former years but we came highly motivated and we expected to do well," said Milton Brown, the coach of the STETHS girls. "We are now looking forward to making our mark at champs with at least a top 10 finish," he said.

The Herbert Morrison boys, who started the final day trailing Munro College by 60 points, romped to the title through impressive performances by the likes of brothers Keneil and Dexter Lee, who broke the Class One 100m record (10.30) and the Class Two 100m record (10.40) respectively; and Tavaskie Lewin, who emerged the Class Two boys' champion and shared the overall champion boy title with Munro's Ronaldo Reid.

"We knew Munro was a powerhouse where the throws are concerned so my duty was to get my athletes to throw as best as possible so that we would have a solid cushion going into the track events," said Claude Robinson, the successful Herbert Morrison coach. "I discussed what we had to do with the athletes and they went out and got the job done," he said.

In taking the champion girl award, the exciting Powell, easily STETHS' brightest star on the day, won the Class Two 800m (11:21.34), the Class Two 1,500m (5:14.75) and the 3,000m Open (11:21.34).

In sharing the overall boys' title, Reid and Lewin were both quite prolific in gaining points for their respective schools.

Reid won the Class Three 100m (10:98), and the Class Three 400m (51:60) and placed second in the Class Three discus (33:46); while Lewin won the Class Two high jump (1.80) was second in the Class Two long jump and won the Class Two 400m (50.58).

Class four honours

The other boys' champions were STETHS' Demar Levy, who took Class Four honours by winning the 100m (11.84) and 200m (24.28) and Munro's Seon Powell, who won the Class One long jump (7.08) and triple jump (14.56).

On the girls' side, Dennis took Class Four honours with victory in the 100m (12.10) and several second-place finishes; Farquharson topped Class Two with wins in high jump (1.55) and long jump (5.42) and Duhaney was the Class One star with victories in the high jump (1.50) and 100m hurdles (16.28).

In addition to the Lee brothers, the other record breakers were Desrick Brooks of STETHS who took the Class One 800m in a blazing 1:55.42 and Herbert Morrison's Antonique Campbell, who ran 56.65 to smash the Class Three 400m record. Brooks also won the Class One 1,500m (4:17.29) while Campbell also took the 200m (24.57) and the 400m (56.65).

The top five girls' schools: STETHS - 496, Herbert Morrison - 256, Godfrey Stewart - 196, Mt. Alvernia - 101 and Frome - 90.

The top five boys' schools: Herbert Morrison - 365, Munro - 338, STETHS - 268, Cornwall College - 207 and Green Island - 84.