HAVING SHATTERED the girls’ Class One 4x100m record at yesterday’s 45th staging of the Gibson McCook Relays, Edwin Allen’s superstar quartet has now set their sights on running sub-43 seconds at this year’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships.
Completing in this order, Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brandy Hall and Tia Clayton produced a blistering run to win the event in a meet record of 43.37 seconds at the National Stadium.
Edwin Allen’s time surpasses the previous record of 44.48 seconds, set by St Jago in 2014. Hydel dipped below the old record as well, finishing second in 44.40 seconds while third went to St Jago in 45.50 seconds.
Tia said they are very delighted with their performance, and that the team was now looking forward to running sub-43 seconds at this year’s Championships, scheduled from April 4-9 at the National Stadium.
“I am sure that once we stay focused and execute our race plan, then we can definitely run sub-43 at Champs,” said Tia.
“We are very happy for the record because this was our focus going out there and I think we executed the race quite well,” she said.
Hall was also elated with her team’s performance.
“I am very happy that we broke the record because we have trained very hard for this and I am just happy that we got the record,” said Hall.
The same quartet would return a few hours later to win the Class One 4x200m relay in 1:35.91 seconds. Immaculate were second in 1:38.36 seconds while third went to Holmwood in 1:39.44 seconds.
Two other records were also broken at yesterday’s relays. Holmwood captured the girls sprint medley open in a new meet record of 3:55.77 seconds. St Mary were second in 3:57.43 seconds while third went to Edwin Allen in 3:59.39 seconds.
Jamaica College (JC) turned in a spectacular performance to break the boys’ 4x800m record in a new mark of 7:24.30 seconds, erasing the previous 7:29.04 seconds, held by Calabar. Kingston College (KC) were second in 7:36.21 seconds while third went to St Jago in 7:45.46 seconds.
Hydel won the girls’ 4x400m relay open in a time of 3:33.76 seconds with Edwin Allen taking second in 3:41.66 seconds and third going to Holmwood in a time of 3:42.32 seconds.
St Jago won the boys’ equivalent with a smart 3:10.48 seconds in front of KC, 3:11.13 seconds. JC finished third in 3:12.49 seconds.
The Michael Dyke-coached Edwin Allen, who had an outstanding championship, captured the girls’ Class Four 4x100m relay in 48.39 seconds with second going to Hydel in 48.78 seconds. Immaculate were third in 49.25 seconds.
Hydel captured the girls’ Class Two event in a swift 44.62 seconds ahead of St Catherine, 46.25, while St Jago finished third in 47.08 seconds.
St Jago won the Class Three 4x100m relay as they sped to victory in 45.71 seconds. Hydel took home the silver in 46.45 seconds, while the bronze went to Holmwood in 46.98 seconds.
St Jago created a massive upset to win the boys’ Class One 4x100m in a time of 40.20 seconds ahead of the highly fancied Jamaica College, 40.40, and St Catherine third in 40.50.
However, KC won the boys’ Class Three and Four 4x100m relays, respectively. The ‘Purples’ sped to 44.36 seconds to win the Class Three event in 44.36 seconds in front of Calabar, 44.93 seconds, with third going to St Jago in 44.94 seconds.