Another sprint fest in 2014

Hubert Lawrence, Contributor

Resist the urge to use the results of last Saturday's Gibson Relays to predict the winners of Boys and Girls' Championships. The range of events contested at those relays is too limited for that. Gibson did, however, give one clear signal: Champs will once again be a festival of sprinting.

Edwin Allen Comprehensive broke the Gibson Class One 4x100m record with reigning 100m champion Monique Spencer easy at the end.

Edwin Allen won five of the seven high-school relay events at Gibson with season-leading marks in the Class Three 4x100, the 4x400, and 4x800. All these runs included fine individual efforts. In Class Three, Shellece Clarke, the 2013 100m victor, blasted the third leg. Spencer churned her 4x400 leg in 52.8 seconds, a statistic that might point her to a Champs 200/400 double, especially after a swift 11.62 win by teammate Christiana Williams at Central Championships.

Marleena Eubanks sprinted her 800m leg in 2 minutes 07.1 seconds and she wasn't the only 800m runner to catch the eye. Holmwood won the boys 4x800, with Class Two ace Ryan Butler producing a 1.52.1 anchor. Even faster in the same race was Chad Dawson of Spaldings at 1.51.3.

Beyond that, there were signs that Shauna Helps will be at top speed at Champs. She blazed from fifth to first for Wolmer's in the Class Two 4x100 and opened an insurmountable lead for the maroon and gold heroines in the 4x200m.

Just a year after KC's Jhevaughn Matherson and Nathaniel Bann rewrote the Champs Class Three sprint records, further revisions seem imminent. Matherson, Bann, and company left the 4x100m record at 42.36 seconds. That was the first Class Three sprint relay time under 43 seconds. At Gibson, Tyreke Wilson, Chris Taylor, Brandon Heath, and Dejour Russell of Calabar sprinted to a revolutionary, time of 41.83 seconds.

High-school record

That was one of three Calabar wins at Gibson, with all in record time. The other two were a Jamaican high-school record run of 39.61 in the Class One 4x100 and the second-fastest high school 4x400m time in history, 3 minutes 07.00 flat.

After being second at Champs to Matherson in the 100m last year, Wilson has always been favoured for the Class Three sprints this year. However, Russell's anchor leg run suggests he might now be in the same speed zone.

KC won four events with especially good running in Class Two. After a meet record 40.68 in the 4x100, KC's Matherson, Akeem Bloomfield, Dontre Williams, and Bann crushed the 4x200 mark with a staggering sprint of 1.25.30. With better baton passing, they might have approached the 1992 Class One record of 1 minute 24.67 seconds.

Sadly, there are reports that Matherson is hurt.

Who will win the team titles at Boys and Girls' Champs? The answer will become clearer today at the Urban Development meet at the National Stadium today. In the meantime, polish your radar gun. You'll need it at Champs.

Hubert Lawrence has been attending Champs since 1980.