Dyke delighted after top displays by Edwin Allen at Western Relays

Head coach of Edwin Allen High’s girls’ track and field team, Michael Dyke, heaped praises on his athletes after their dominant showing at last Saturday’s 46th staging of the Western Relays at the G.C. Foster College. The team delivered outstanding performances in both individual and relay events.

With five individual victories along with five relay wins, Dyke believes his team is well prepared to successfully defend their title at the March 25-29 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

“I am pleased with my girls’ performance at the Milo Western Relays,” Dyke said. “Our Class Four relay team faced challenges due to confusing instructions from officials, but they are young and will learn from that experience. Overall, our team delivered a strong showing in the championship events. While we lost the 4x800m, we were satisfied as we were not at full strength. We are continually refining our combinations going forward.”

Class Four sprint hurdler Amoya Morris got things started for the Frankfield-based team. After a disappointing performance the previous week at the Youngster Goldsmith Classics — where she fell close to the finish line in the preliminary round despite a healthy lead, she bounced back with a personal best of 10.75 seconds to win the 70m hurdles.

Edwin Allen also secured victories in the Class Three 80m and Class One 100m hurdles events.

In the 80m hurdles, Tashana Godfrey won in 11.20 seconds ahead of her teammate Malacia Gordon, who clocked a personal-best 11.48.

Santae Wilson won the Class One 100m hurdles, winning in 13.91 - her third consecutive sub-14-second performance.

Edwin Allen’s other individual victories came from Denique Palmer, who won the 1500m Open in a season’s best 4:43.90, and Shamoyea Morris, who set a meet record in the Class One discus with a throw of 48.71m.

Jounee Armstrong delivered two brilliant performances as Edwin Allen won the Class One 4x100m and the 4x400m Open. In the 4x100m, Edwin Allen won in a fast 44.98 seconds with Armstrong on the second leg.

She then returned to team up with Maria Crossfield, Shanique Cassanova, and top intermediate hurdler Kelly-Ann Carr in the 4x400m, where they won in 3:38.38. Edwin Allen’s other relay triumph came in the sprint medley where they clocked 4:10.67.

Holmwood Technical secured two victories on the day. They set a meet record of 8:49.32 in the 4x800m and later captured the 4x200m Open in 1:38.95. St Andrew High won the Class Four in 49.37, an event in which Edwin Allen and Holmwood failed to finish.

KC DOMINATE BOYS’ EVENTS

Despite being under some pressure to retain their Mortimer Geddes trophy in the school’s 100th anniversary year, Kingston College (KC) showed they are not ready to relinquish their crown, as they dominated the boys’ division with four relay victories.

KC won three of the four 4x100m - Class Four in 46.36, Class Three in 44.15, and Class Two in 42.30. A brilliant anchor leg from Brian Kiprop sealed victory for the North Street-based team in the 4x800m, where they clocked 7:48.78, just ahead of Jamaica College (JC), who finished second in 7:49.71.

Edwin Allen’s boys also had three big wins. They secured victory in the Class Two 4x200m in 1:29.39 and the Class One 4x200m in 1:25.25, before closing the meet with a win in the 4x400m.

In what was the most exciting race of the day, Edwin Allen held off KC and JC in a dramatic finish to win the 4x400m in 3:12.43. KC clocked 3:12.76 for second, while JC finished third in 3:12.87.