Were you there when Edward Clarke won the Class Two 400 metres at the 1991 Boys' Championships?

The Jamaica College ace outran a stellar field, including Calabar High's Glendon England, future Olympians Davian Clarke of Kingston College, and Michael McDonald of Vere Technical. Prince Edward's time - 47.49 seconds - was historic. Never before had a Class Two boy broken 48.00.

In the years to come, Davian, Sekou Clarke, and Tevado Latty followed Edward into the 47 seconds range, but the record remained untouched until 2007. That's when Ramone McKenzie of Calabar won and cut the record to 47.24.

Last Saturday, in the best Champs of all time, two boys broke McKenzie's record and the unthought-of 47-second barrier and lost. Remarkably, Devaughn Baker of JC ran Martin Manley of St Jago and Jaheel Hyde of Wolmer's off their feet to win in 46.64 seconds. It was that kind of Champs. Even though the official statistics are inflated with the established marks for new events, it was raining records.

FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE

As it was in 1991, the Class Three 400m record got damaged just before its Class Two counterpart. Back then, Ali Watson of Calabar had become the first Class Three boy to break 50.00 with his fantastic time of 49.63 seconds. Last Saturday, Nathaniel Bann, the tall and fluent KC boy, sped to victory in 49.13 seconds.

Being the nephew of Champs legend Rupert Hoilette doesn't hurt.

There were records aplenty, but these two and the javelin record by Zavian Richards of KC set the tone for a day that is almost certainly the best single day in the 103-year history of Champs.

Afterwards, friendly arguments raged as to who were the top performers and performances of the meet. Was it Omar McLeod of KC and Kimone Shaw of St Jago? McLeod, a Manchester transfer to KC, flew to records of 13.42 and 13.24 seconds in the Class One 110 hurdles and to the first sub-50 by a Jamaican junior - 49.98 seconds - in the 400 metre hurdles.

Shaw set revolutionary records in the Class Four sprints and equalled the long jump record.

Was it Calabar's Fedrick Dacres and Tara-Sue Barnett of Edwin Allen? Dacres, the world junior discus champion, won his pet event and fought off determined Chadwick DaCosta of KC to set a shot put Class One record of 19.29 metres. Barnett extended her Class One discus record to 51.15m.

Jhevaughn Matherson of Kingston College was on everyone's list. His record-breaking Class Three sprint double included two records over 200 metres. The first, an eased-off 22.02, opened the door for the second, a full-speed destruction of the 22 second barrier - 21.87 seconds.

On the list as well was Christoffe Bryan of Wolmer's Boys. His record Class One high jump clearances of 2.16m and 2.19m suggest that higher heights are within reach.

Delano Williams and Shericka Jackson set no records but you'll find them on everybody's list. Jackson won the Class One 200/400 double with her winning 200 time - 22.98 - the third fastest in Champs history. Her 51.60 winning time in the 400 isn't too shoddy either.

Only Yohan Blake and Tesfa Latty have run faster at Champs than Delano's winning Class-One time of 10.28 seconds. In the 200m, he stormed to a big win. He ran the distance in 20.27 seconds, just 0.02 off Usain Bolt's 2003 monument of 20.25.

The boys were so good that worthy performers like Michael O'Hara of Calabar and Clive Pullen aren't in central focus. O'Hara did a Class Two 100/200/110m hurdles triple with a record in the hurdles. Pullen did a Class One triple jump/long jump double with a new mark in the former. Yet none of them are front-runners for MVP honours.

On the girls' side, it's easier to choose. Jackson and Shaw appear a shade ahead of Barnett. As usual, boys give more trouble. Take your pick. I've got 10.28/20.27 man Williams, with his 45.2 second anchor leg of Munro's record-breaking 4x400 team, out in front. If you pick McLeod with his double national junior record hurdles double, I won't argue too much.

We're sure to agree on one thing. This wasn't like 2010 when both Boys' Champs and Girls' Champs went down to the last steps but on quality, there has never been anything quite like 2013.

Hubert Lawrence has covered Champs since 1987.