Sisters Ristananna Tracey (left) and Nikita Tracey
Clarendon emerged the overall champions of the Social Development Commis-sion's (SDC) Inter-parish Track and Field Championship, hosted at the Kirkvine Sports Club in Manchester on Saturday.
Manchester, as was the case with most other parishes, competed without much of their top high school athletes and placed a creditable second, finishing just under 20 points behind the winners. They were followed by the combined team of Kingston and St Andrew with St Catherine, St Elizabeth and Trelawny occupying the other significant minor placings. St James finished at the back of the 13 teams, interestingly, after mining a mere 13 points.
Clarendon's team boasted many of the female athletes from Edwin Allen High and their all-round performances saw them being featured in the top three placings of 23 of the 44 events throughout the day. The events were organised in three catergories, namely, girls and boys 14 and under; girls and boys 15-17 and girls and boys 18-19.
All parish teams were restricted to a maximum of 40 athletes, the bulk of whom had performed in the various district-association meets held for clubs registered with the SDC in each parish.
Top finishes
Evans
The Edwin Allen show began for Clarendon with the pair of Gayon Evans (11.88) and Naffene Briscoe (12.09) making it an easy 1-2 in the girls 18 and over 100-metre dash. It continued in the girls 15-17 400m where Ristananna Tracey and Shashanna Ffrench claimed the top two finishes. Amoy Blake and Ristananna's older sister, Nikita, provided the same treat in the senior 400m category, before Kaycea Jones piloted Briscoe home in the girls 18 and over 200m.
Manchester and St Catherine provided the only other one-two finishes. Kevin White led home Sanjay Powell for Manchester in the boys 15-17 800m, while the St Catherine pair of Kiton Wilson and Edward Smith finished tops in the senior boys discus throw.
Edwin Allen would also provide individual winners through Carla Thompson (girls 15-17 800m), Shashanna Ffrench (girls 15-17 200m), Macola Josephs (girls 18 and over 800m), Ann-Marie Duffus (girls senior long jump open), Kimberly Williams (girls senior high jump open), Sasha Jay Marsh (girls senior shot put open).
Despite this dominance in the female category, the championship race remained close throughout the day, but quite expectedly, the Frankfield-based Edwin Allen would decisively power Clarendon home with convincing victories in the 4x100m and 4x400m female relays. The sprint quartet of Briscoe, Evans, Duffus and Jones went three seconds clear of nearest rivals Trelawny, while the team of Blake, Ffrench and the Tracey sisters won by a distance of 250 metres in the mile relay.
Boys catergory
Robinson
Clarendon's highlight in the boys catergory came through the surprise Boys' Champs Class Three 800m champion, Kevon Robinson, of little-known Foga Road High and Phillip London.
Robinson was a double winner on the day, topping Conega Williams of Kingston and St Andrew in the boys 14 and Under 400m before winning his pet event ahead of Samudale Gayle of Manchester and Dave Allen of St James.
London, a former student of Vere who now attends junior college in Texas, defeated Class One 800m Boys' Champs winner, Peter Matthews, of deCarteret College.
The significant performance came from Holmwood athlete Kevin White, who won for Manchester the boys 15-17 800m and boys open 5000m. Nicholas Maitland of St Elizabeth Technical won the exciting senior boys 100m in a time of 10:83, as he narrowly defeated Marvin Codling of Trelawny (10.87) and Mario Haughton of Kingston and St Andrew (10.89).
The notable Carifta representative, Jevere Bell, competing for St Thomas, won the boys 15-17 400m, while in the boys 14 and under 200m, Krishna Christie of St Catherine finished in a creditable 22.77.