After 5 Finals, here are your Point Standings for the ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships!
Suga expects HYDEL, JAGO & HOLMWOOD to come up in the sprints for the Girls, but EDWIN ALLEN should still take Champs. I have to big up IMMACULATE who might finally take back the Corporate area this year. Can CALABAR nurse their injuries and improve execution from a tight situation to beat KC? Stay tuned! 2 more days to go!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
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Non-profit organization, New Kingston Rotaract Club (Youth arm of Rotary) is having their annual Wing Sauce Competition this Saturday, March 30th by the Mona Dam. Like last year, they are having a Farmer’s Market too, encouraging us to eat healthy and buy our local produce, while contributing to charity at the same time. It’s a win-win for everyone.
Judging and sampling usually takes place at about 2:30/3:00pm. Suga will be judging again!
Then you can head down to the National Stadium to watch our very own young athletes put on quite a show at Champs! The writing is on the wall for the Girls with Edwin Allen, but for the Boys, will KC beat Calabar this year as they seem to be in position to do, or did they peak too early in the season?
Keep up with Suga Lifestyle’s Facebook and Instagram Page to keep updated with Champs and keep up with the New Kingston Rotaract Club by following them on Instagram @nkrcjamaica. If you are between the ages of 18-30, see how you can join them!
Rotaract Club of New Kingston
Meeting Venue and Time: The Liguanea Club, New Kingston every 1st and 3rd Thursday at 6:30pm
Website: http://www.nkrcja.com
Instagram: @nkrcjamaica
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this Promo, follow Suga Lifestyle Online, on Instagram (@sugalifestyle), Twitter (@sugalifestyleja) or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
Another absolutely sensational Issa/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships have come to an end. Calabar was expected to come out on top, ahead of KC, but not by so many points. Their dominance was exceptional for their 7th straight title.
Final Standings for the Boys:
Edwin Allen executed their races well for the Girls to come away on top for the 6th straight time ahead of Holmwood Technical.
Final Standings for the Girls:
There were so many great Champs Moments, but here are Suga’s Highlights:
â— Sportsmanship
Great Sportsmanship was shown between Great rivals, Tyreke Wilson of Calabar and KC’s Jhevaughn Matherson as they crossed the line in the Class 1 Boys 100m Semi-Final. This is what Champs is all about!
â— Class 3 Boys 100m Sweet 16 Victory by KCÂ
KC’s Bouwahjgie Nkrumie(1st) and Adrian Kerr (2nd) both smashed the record of Jhevaughn Matherson in 10.79s and 10.81s respectively.
Everyone has been asking if Nkrumie is also an import, but word has it that he has been going to school in Jamaica since Prep School. He speaks like a Jamaican as well.
â— Class 2 Girls 100m and 200m shines spotlight on our future Star in the Sprints
Suga’s Championship Girl, Kevona Davis of Edwin Allen High
The young lady called the Princess of sprinting amongst High schoolers, Kevona Davis of Edwin Allen, broke her own record that was set in the semifinals in 11.16s! Last year she false started and she has certainly come back with a vengeance. She is only hundredths of a second off from VCB’s Junior record time of 11.12s. I observed that she comes out of her drive phase quite quickly, so can you imagine when her form is improved?!
Her compatriot, Kasheika Cameron clocked 11.29 to win the 100m for the Class 1 Girls. This was a clear indication of the powerhouse, Kevona is.
The following day, she broke her own 200m semifinal record as well, to win in 22.72s.
â— Class 2 Boys 100m
Sachin Dennis of STETHS had a magnificent run, breaking the record in 10.20s!
â— Drama for the Class 1 Boys 100m
Calabar’s Michael Stephens, Defending Champ of the event started to feel cramps before the start of the race. He received a bit of Physio treatment before the race and was even on the phone. He was seen crying with his teammate and one of the favourites to win, Tyreke Wilson, but surprisingly still headed to the start line for the race.
Everyone was at that point thinking that KC’s Jhevaughn Matherson, the other favourite would have been undisturbed by the drama and thus have the advantage. He would be seeking redemption after false starting last year, allegedly because he was injured. But not only did Michael Stephens run out fast and pull up mid-race, so did Matherson of KC! This left Calabar’s Tyreke Wilson with a clear victory and PB of 10.21s ahead of JC’s Ryiem Robertson who finished in 10.28s.
A post Champs interview with the Assistant Coach of Calabar confirmed that Stephens was told to jog the race, which he did not do in such a competitive atmosphere.
â— Upset in the Class 1 Boys 400m Hurdles!
Favourites, Malik James-King of Calabar and STETHS’ Jauavney James were beaten convincingly by a young man from Rhodes Hall High School, Rovane Williams in a record time of 49.94s.
◠Petersfield comes out on top in the Class 2 Boys 400m and Boys 4×400m Open Relay!
Petersfield’s Antonio Watson seized victory in the Boys Class 2 400m and lived up to his reputation of World Under-18 Champion. He then anchored his 4×400m Relay team to victory in the last race of Champs, since Calabar’s record win was later declared null and void due to disqualification. One of the athletes on Calabar’s 4×400m team was over his race limit according to the rules. It is sad that the fault in Calabar’s line-up was apparently not picked up by the organizers before the race, but after the fact by Petersfield, who launched the appeal. A bit of a sour taste in the mouth at the end of Champs.
â— KC beats Calabar in the 400m Class 1 Boys
KC’s Captain, Dashawn Morris gave it his all and won the 400m Class 1 Boys in an impressive 45.09s, ahead of Calabar’s Anthony Carpenter, who registered a PB of 45.47.
â— STETHS’ Jauavney James showed great perseverance to win the Class 1 Boys 800m
Jauavney James of STETHS got his redemption from losing the 1500m and 400m hurdles. He won from behind in the Class 1 Boys 800m. He got his strategy right to finish his last Champs race in fine style.
â— Winner from Lane 8 in Class 3 200m Girls
Gabrielle Matthews of Hydel won the Girls Class 3 200m out of lane 8 in 23.60s to beat Edwin Allen’s Tina Clayton.
â— Sweet 16 KC rivalry continued in the Class 3 Boys 200m!
This time around KC’s Adrian Kerr beat his teammate, Bouwahjgie Nkrumie in record time. Nkrumie was still in good spirits, unlike Kerr who could not speak in his interview the night before after placing 2nd in the 100m. But with true determination, he ran from behind with lots of grit for the 200m win.
â— Calabar gets their Sweet 16 in the Class 1 Boys 200m
Suga’s Championship Boy, Christopher Taylor, Team Captain of Calabar High
Calabar’s Christopher Taylor won the Class 1 Boys 200m impressively in 20.32s ahead of his compatriot, Anthony Carpenter. Carpenter had an obvious limp towards the end of the race, but still managed to finish 2nd.
So many spectacular #ChampsMoments. I hope you shared these as some of your faves too.
Kudos also to the After-Show! Although some spectators may have dislocated their shoulders, it was superb quality for Jamaica’s version of the greatest show on earth.
See you next year!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
Edwin Allen as predicted got the 4-peat for the Girls. The fight was on for 2nd place between Jago, Holmwood and Hydel. Hydel took 2nd and the other standings are below.
Suga would like to big up her alma mater, Immaculate for finishing in the top 10. Well done ladies!
Boys
The prediction for the Boys did not have the same outcome as the Girls. KC thought they had Champs in the bag and did a lot of talking. I don’t know where their maths went wrong but they clearly did not account for injuries and other mishaps. Even KC’s ‘import’ from Uganda lost the 1500m to Calabar. However, he still managed to win the 5000m giving them a 4-point lead before the last race of the meet. But it was not enough. They did not have a strong enough 4×400m relay team, especially without Jhevaughn Matherson who aggravated his injury after the 100m semis. If they finished 3rd or higher in the 4×400m relay, they could have won Champs. How? It would have been a tie with Calabar and they had the deeper team with more Gold medals. That was not accomplished though and Calabar’s Christopher Taylor anchored Calabar to victory, 6-love.
Suga’s Championship Girl is Gabrielle McDonald from Edwin Allen!
The quality and speed of the hurdling impressed me most of all this year. Tiny but mighty, Gabrielle smashed the Class 1 100m hurdles record, finishing in 13.12s and won the 400m hurdles open as well. She won in 56.53s ahead of the favourite from Holmwood, Nicolee Foster. Keep in mind that our Danielle Williams ran a PB of 12.57s to win the 100m hurdles at the 2015 World Champs. These young athletes have been running spectacular times. Keep it going Gabrielle!
Gabrielle McDonald of Edwin Allen hurdling her way to victory. Photo: The Jamaica Gleaner
Suga’s Championship Boy is Christopher Taylor from Calabar!
Entering his first year in the Class 1 Boys, he won the 400m, the 200m and anchored his team to victory in the 4×400m relay. Bright future ahead from this humble, young man.
Christopher Taylor from Calabar after he took Calabar home to their 6th straight Champs victory
Congrats Edwin Allen and Calabar! Well done. Kudos to all the other schools as well that competed and help to put on an amazing show. There were surprises, injuries, false starts, tears, laughter, joy and numerous records broken.
See you all next year!
By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.
What a weekend in Sports! Congrats to Calabar and Edwin Allen for winning the oh so entertaining and inspiring ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics’ Championships! With 16 finals to go, both schools led the field and there was no turning back.
Our young Jamaicans put on quite a show, looking very promising for our future in Athletics. Suga’s main concern though is the workload put on the star athletes. There needs to be some kind of stipulation put in place for the Boys and Girls to run only a certain amount of events, ideally 2, because once they excel in individual events they are further pressured to run relays to help their team and school. The star athletes should also be restricted from running the heats for their teams in relays. Careful consideration needs to be given to this matter in order for them to make the transition like our legend, Usain Bolt.
With all seriousness aside, who took Champs for Suga?
Junelle Bromfield of STETHS with 4 GOLD medals! Junelle won the Class 1 Girls’ 400m, 800m, 1500m and anchored the 4×400m relay. She was absolutely exceptional and did not even blow after any final she ran. Amazing. She also blew away her rival in the 400m, Ashley ‘Felix’ Williams of Holmwood who beat her recently so she was on a mission and the revenge was sweet.
Ashley ‘Felix’ Williams, as her nickname suggests has a very similar running style and looks like USA’s athletic star, Allyson Felix. Ashley won the Girls’ 200m impressively.
KC’s Akeem Bloomfield continued his reign in the Class 1 Boys’ 400m, of which he holds the record from last year.
The tall, powerful, Dejour Russell of Calabar was upset by his teammate, Michael Stephens in the Class 2 Boys’ 100m after he could not recover from his usual slow start, but he got the opportunity again to win Gold and did just that in the Class 2 Boys’ 110m hurdles.
Another disappointment was Defending Champ of the Girls’ Class 2 100m, Shellece Clarke of Edwin Allen. She was not fully on form, had a poor start and failed to medal. She was also pulled out of the 200m event.
Instagram: @issachamps
Back to the winners! Christopher Taylor of Calabar! In addition to breaking the Class 2 Boys’ 400m record early in the heats in 46.33s, he also won 4 GOLD medals and ran a beautiful and strategic anchor leg in the last race of Champs, finishing ahead of KC’s Akeem Bloomfield in the Boys’ 4×400m relay. Akeem ran out too hard but had too much work to do anyway by the time he received the baton. Fantastic end to the Championships.
Then there was a big NBA game on Saturday night as well!
The San Antonio Spurs held the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry to 1 for 12 on 3 pointers in their 87-79 win over the Warriors. It was Curry’s worst stats for 3-pointers this season.
What happened? San Antonio’s superb defence and LaMarcus Aldridge with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
Check out some of the high class defense action below!
Watch “Danny Green becomes the 1st player to block a 3-pt attempt by Steph Curry in 15-16′ season” on YouTube here:
Then there was another massive block sacrificing his body! Watch “Danny Green Rejects Stephen Curry | Warriors vs Spurs | March 19, 2016 | NBA 2015-16 Season” on YouTube here:
The IAAF 2016 World Indoor Championships also occurred over the weekend in Portland, USA.
Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson beat the Dutch, Dafne Schippers in the SEMIS but did not have as fast of a start in the finals, where Schippers edge her to win the 60m in 7.10s.
Watch “Dafne Schippers Wins 7.10 Women’s 60m Final Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix 2016” on YouTube here:
Asafa Powell was impressive in the semis, but as usual choked in the 60m final. He had a bad start and was edged out by USA’s Trayvon Brommell.
But who really came through for Jamaica?
Omar Mcleod!
I will leave you with Jamaica’s Omar McLeod’s win.
Watch “Omar McLeod 7.41s Wins 60m Hurdles Final – IAAF WIC in Portland 2016” on YouTube here:
The ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Champs will be on fire tonight and tomorrow as the finals of events will be run and more records will be broken. A few have gone already!
Who will win? For the Girls, after tonight, Edwin Allen will be the clear winner for this year defending their title once again!
For the Boys it will be down to the wire between KC and Calabar. JC will be totally out of the running. No true blue in sight. Can Fortis overcome Rabalac this time around? May the best school win!
Favourites, Malik James-King of Calabar and STETHS’ Jauavney James were beaten convincingly by a young man from Rhodes Hall High School, Rovane Williams in a record time of 49.94s.
