Reid sounds warning at Wesley Powell meet

St Jago High School girls were in tremendous form at the recent Wesley Powell/Heart Institute of the Caribbean Track and Field Meet held at Excelsior High School.

Led by a double victory by Class Two athlete, Joanna Reid, who showed early signs that she will be a force to be reckoned with once again in the upcoming track season following a pretty sub-par season in 2018.

Reid captured the 150 metres and 300m events with the former coming in record time - 18.40 seconds - erasing the one-year-old mark of 18.86 seconds done by Ackera Nugent of Excelsior High. Neisha Burgher (Excelsior), who was second overall, was also inside the old record, after clocking 18.75 seconds, with Reid's teammate Thenelle Williams, taking third spot in 18.91 seconds.

Reid stopped the clock at 41.67 seconds in the 300m to secure her double, with home girl Burgher again having to settle for second best, after clocking 41.82 seconds, with another Excelsior athlete, Dorian Nelson, finishing third overall in 42.02 seconds.

St Jago dynamo Brianna Lyston was also in good form, after a first, and third-place overall finish. Lyston, who is hoping to get back to her Class Four heights after a low-key debut season in Class Three last year, was too good for her rivals in the Class Three 300m, as she finished ahead of the pack in 42.00 seconds. Keresia Sewell, 42.91, and Abigail Martin, 42.96, finished second and third, respectively, ensuring a St Jago sweep in the event. Lyston was third overall in the 150 metres in 19.33 seconds as the home team duo of Mikele Coombs, 19.07, and Ravan Reid, 19.26 seconds, took the top two spots.

The Spanish Town-based school also had wins from Jade-Ann Dawkins, T-Anna Dawkins, Quacian Davis, and Rebecca Bernadin. Jade-Ann captured the Class Four 150 metres in 19.66 seconds, ahead of Excelsior's Mikele Williams, 19.68, with Kimeka Smith of St.Jago taking third in 19.68 seconds. T-Anna Dawkins won the Class 1 300m in 40.41 seconds, while Davis topped the field in the 600 metres for Class Two. Bernadin won the Class One 1000m in 3:14.09 ahead of team-mates Jamekea Manning, 3:14.96 and Latifah Pinnock, 3:15.84.

On the male side, one of the outstanding performances of the meet came from the talented Jeremy Farr of Wolmer's Boys School, who wrote his name in the record books after sprinting to 35.26 seconds in capturing the Class One 300 metres. In the process, he bettered the old record of 35.51 seconds done in 2014 by Devaughn Baker, the former Jamaica College quarter-miler. Excelsior High's Devontie Archer finished second in 35.83 seconds, while it was third for Farr's teammate, Xavier Nairne in 35.95 seconds.

Another win for Wolmer's Boys came in the Class Three 1000m event as Joshua Hyde stopped the clock at 3:05.52, with Kingston College's Jequan Coke taking second in 3:06.46 and third going to St Andrew Technical's Rojel Nugent in 3:07.87.

Kingston College swept the top three spots in the Class Four 150 metres. Mercinho Rose came out on top in 18.77 seconds ahead of Daniel Gayle, 16.82, and Nejair Grant, 19.02 seconds.