Dyke impressed with new recruits

Michael Dyke, the head coach of defending inter-secondary girls' champions Edwin Allen High, has sought to ease fears about his team's preparations after they stayed away from the various preseason road races.

Their main rivals, Hydel High, Holmwood Technical, St Jago High, and Vere Technical were all very busy on the road in October and November and also competed in three early meets, the Tyser Mills, Wesley Powell, and Gerald Claude Foster.

"Because of a lot of rain, along with the footballers using the main field, our preparations started out a bit slow, but we picked up in mid-November. We did not compete on the road this season as we did not want to risk any injuries on those hard surfaces," said Dyke.

"We did not compete at the various early development meets as we have enough athletes in our camp to compete in time trials among ourselves," he added.

Looking forward, Dyke said that he is impressed with his new recruits in the lower classes.

"We did not do well in Class Four last season, but based on our recruiting this time, we have attracted a very strong set of girls, and I am very confident that they will do much better than last year's group."

He also stated that his Class Three group is still very strong.

"We scored a lot of points in Class Three, and it was a very young group as most of them will be repeating. Those still in the class include Tia and Tina Clayton and Serena Cole, who all performed well in the 2018 championships. Class Two will be led by the outstanding Kevona Davis, who has nothing to prove, and after getting the records in the sprints last year, she will be motivated to defend her titles," Dyke said.

He has lost sprinter Kasheika Cameron, 400m runner Moisha Barnes, and champion thrower Fiona Richards in Class One, but Dyke is not worried.

"We may not dominate on the track, but we are extremely strong in the field events," he said.

Edwin Allen wrapped up their Christmas camp yesterday, and the head coach was very pleased.

"Our camp was very successful, and the girls will take a well-needed break ahead of the first meet in January, the Pure Water JC/Danny Williams, on January 5. We normally send a big squad there to qualify early for Champs," said Dyke.