KC, Excelsior set sights on Champs after Corporate Area wins
Published:Sunday | March 5, 2023 | 12:56 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
After retaining their girls’ and boys’ titles at the Corporate Area Championships, Excelsior High School’s girls’ coach, Michael Vassell, was bullish about maintaining their top-five placing at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) later this month, while Kingston College’s (KC) Leaford Grant was reminded of the battle he is likely to face in light of a Calabar resurgence.
Excelsior romped to victory, amassing 403 points ahead of Wolmer’s Girls’ School, who were second with 310. Immaculate Conception were third with 280.
It was far from simple among the boys, as KC needed a win in the Class One boys’ 4x400m event, the final race of the meet, to seal their title with 427 points. Calabar pushed them all the way to end second with 415 points, while Jamaica College (JC) were third with 389.5.
The gap between KC and Calabar was eight points heading into the final event and, while impressed at the improvement of their Red Hills Road rivals under head coach Corey Bennett, Grant has faith his team will deliver when the real business starts in three weeks.
“It is amazing. Calabar have really stepped up big time. They have a very deep team. I know Jamaica College have some quality but, as long as we do what we have to do and stay focused at Champs, I think we will be fine,” said Grant.
GOOD PLACE
While concerned with some of the injuries suffered at the meet, Grant was pleased overall with the performances, which he feels puts them in a good place for their title defence
“I’m pretty pleased with the results. But it is unfortunate that we got some injuries at this meet. But, all in all, the boys are happy so we are pleased. This meet was somewhat of a test for us. We never exuberate too much, maybe because there are youngsters that only did one event,” Grant said.
“Come Champs, we are looking at that carefully and that team will be different than the Corporate Area team.”
Meanwhile, Vassel was particularly pleased with the performance of Excelsior’s relay teams, specifically the Class Two girls who won the 4x100m title.
He hopes the performances over the past two days will give them the best chance possible to maintain the top-five placing they had last year or go on to break into the top three.
“The most important thing for me was the relay team. We managed to get the baton around and the teams did well, especially my Class Two team, which was my worry and they managed to win. They are the only team that managed to win a relay,” Vassell said.
“This is really a warm-up for Champs. We know that the big teams are not here but this is where we kind of get the team together and test out what we have. And it is good to know that the team performed how they performed, because we saw some things that will help us in the next couple of weeks at Champs.”
Among the notable performances was KC winning three of the four 400-metre finals on offer.
Amal Glasgow won the class one title in 47.27 seconds, finishing ahead of Jamaica College’s Malique Smith-Band (47.58). Glasgow’s teammate Marcinho Rose was third in 48.59.
Jordan Rehedul (50.39) took home the Class Three title while Tahj-Marques White (48.82) won the Class Two crown. JC’s Marko Callaghan (52.12) broke the trend, winning the Class Four title.
Excelsior produced similar results among the girls, highlighted by Class One’s Diandra Kelly, who won the Class Oe title in a new meet record of 55.00. Breana Brown (56.71) took the Class Three title while Oracesia Brooks (1:03.09) claimed Class Four honours. Meckeda Legister (59.36) of The Queen’s School won the Class Two title.