JC’s 4x800m hits the target

When Jamaica College began to prepare for a defence of their ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships team title, middle-distance coach Dwayne Johnson set a target for his 4x800 metres team. The team of Omarion Davis, Handel Robban, Kemario Bygrave, and team captain J’Voughnn Blake hit the target at the Gibson McCook at the National Stadium at the weekend.

The boys produced the fastest 4x800 metres race ever by a Jamaica high school team, seven minutes 24.30 seconds, unseating Calabar High School as Gibson McCook record holders by almost five seconds and outdoing Calabar’s Penn Relay record of 7.26.09. Though he completed the first lap second, some steps behind St Jago High School, Davis produced his best 800m of the 2022 campaign with a 1.52.5 opener and then Robban, Bygrave, and Blake burned legs timed in 1.49.5, 1.53., and 1.49.3, respectively.

2020 JOURNEY

Davis had put JC well ahead of record pace. At the last Gibson McCook Relays, Calabar’s David Martin covered the first leg in one minute 56.2 seconds. Kevroy Venson, Rivaldo Marshall, and Kimar Farquharson followed him with legs of 1.50.5, 1.52.0, and 1.50.3, respectively, to complete that 2020 journey in 7:29.04.

Coach Johnson was ecstatic. “I actually wrote it down on a board, and I reminded them on Monday. I said 7.24 was the target, and that’s the target we actually got here. Now, interestingly, I thought that Bygrave could have gone a little faster, so we have some seconds there to shave off, so it’s very interesting to see how much faster we can go. I’m very happy,” he said, calmly revelling in the achievement.

CHAMPIONSHIPS

Bygrave probably can go faster. Last year, he won the Boys and Girls’ Championships Class 2 800m in 1:52.00.

Johnson had thought out the running order carefully. In the fortnight after a win over Kingston College at the Western Relays, he switched St Vincent star Robban from anchor and Blake from the second leg. “I got it spot on. Exactly how I actually predicted it would happen, it happened,” he said.

The 4x800m record has now been lowered in the last four renewals of the Gibson McCook Relays.

Kingston College was well back in 7:36.21.

JC head coach Neil Harrison praised Johnson and the boys. “All commendation goes to coach Dwayne Johnson. I think he did a lot of work with them. He’s more like a father than even a coach to them, and so kudos to the team and the coach himself,” he commented.

Blake’s solo anchor was the fastest of the race. “The race was awesome. It was under good conditions. It was really a pretty good run for me. I just had to go out there and run my own race. I’m glad that I did that, and the win came along with it,” he explained.

Nevertheless, the JC team captain felt he had more to give. “A little disappointed with 1.49.3, but given that I was relatively running the race by myself, I’m content,” he reasoned.