GraceKennedy CEO Don Wehby (left) and ISSA President Keith Wellington at the launch of the 2024 ISSA GraceKennedy Boys & Girls Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston on Wednesday evening.
The anticipation among track & field fans in Jamaica and around the world is growing by the second with the world's top High School Athletics showcase, the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys & Girls Championships, on the horizon.
The meet, set to take place from March 19-23 at the National Stadium in Kingston, had its official media launch on Wednesday evening at the same venue.
This year will mark the 113th year of the showpiece event as well as the 25th anniversary of the merging of Boys and Girls Champs.
Kingston College are defending champions on the boys side while Hydel High ended Edwin Allen’s eight-year reign on the throne last year of the girls side.
101 teams are down to compete on the boys side while 97 are set to do battle for the girls title. Athletes will contest a total of 88 events over a grueling five days of competition.
While Tuesday’s day one will feature only preliminaries, Wednesday’s day two will see 17 finals contested highlighted by the 100m and 1500m. Thursday and Friday will each have 13 finals contested before the festivities culminate with 43 finals on Saturday’s final day.
Organizers have also added a special event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the merge between the Boys and the Girls events.
There will be exhibition mixed relays, twinning traditional boys’ schools with their sister schools as well as adding Manchester High School in honor of Mr. Branford Gayle, late former principal who was instrumental in the merger.
This year’s edition will also see the introduction of international technical officials to complement the local technical official pool.
President of the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA), Mr. Keith Wellington, expects this year’s event to be special.
“The 2024 version of the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Championships promises to be another landmark staging of the greatest High School Athletics Championships in the world,” he said at Wednesday’s event.
“We expect patrons that patrons will be dazzled, not only by the performances of our athletes but will also experience pulsating entertainment off the track,” he added.
Wellington also commented on the addition of international officials.
“We believe that the inclusion of an international start referee and the addition of an international official to the jury of appeal will not only add significant credibility to these areas, but will enhance the already significant reputation of “Champs” as a meet of the highest international quality,” he said.
GraceKennedy, who have been sponsoring “Champs” since 2007, have committed $178 million to this year’s edition.
“Champs continues to be the largest sponsorship in dollars and heart by far, for the entire GraceKennedy Group,” said GraceKennedy Group CEO Don Wehby.
“We are honored and proud to be the title sponsor of such an iconic event, an event that holds such cultural prominence among Jamaicans at home and abroad. This is a significant investment and represents a powerful example of our commitment to invest in our schools, youth and our country. Our support for Champs and youth development in Jamaica is unwavering, and will continue for years to come,” he added.
Wehby also announced that, in honor of GraceKennedy’s 102nd anniversary, they will have a special award of $202,000 for any school whose student breaks a 200m record.
Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.
Smith produces season’s best to win long jump at Texas Invitational
Texas junior Ackelia Smith produced an NCAA leading performance to take top spot on day one of the Texas Invitational at the Mike A. Myers Stadium on Friday.
The 22-year-old reigning NCAA champion produced a season’s best 7.10m, her first jump over 7m this season, to win ahead of Trinidadian Puma athlete Tyra Gittens (6.72m) and UTSA’s Ida Breigan (6.65m).
This is a welcome return to form for Smith who suffered a torn hamstring at the NCAA Indoor Championships in early March.
Smith was Jamaica’s national champion in the long jump in 2022 and was a finalist in both the long and triple jump at that year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Paulino extends 400m winning streak to seven in Shanghai
Dom Rep’s Marileidy Paulino followed up her triumph at the season’s Diamond League opener in Xiamen last week with another victory at the Shanghai Diamond League on Saturday.
The reigning World champion produced 50.89 to win ahead of American Talitha Diggs who ran 51.77 and Bajan two-time World Championship bronze medallist Sada Williams who ran 52.00 in third.
Paulino’s winning streak in the 400m has now stretched to seven races.
It was déjà vu in the women’s 100m hurdles as reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho Quinn just pipped World Indoor 60m hurdles champion and world record holder Devynne Charlton on the line, just as it played out in Xiamen last week.
Camacho-Quinn ran 12.63 compered to Charlton’s 12.64. Two-time World champion Danielle Williams was third in 12.74.
The men’s 110m hurdles saw American Daniel Roberts get his second win in a row to kick off the Diamond League season. His winning time was 13.12, comfortably ahead of Japan’s Shunsuke Izumiya (13.23) and Olympic champion Hansle Parchment’s season’s best 13.26.
Edwin Allen second in Champions of America girls’ 4x800m as Union Catholic sets National Record
Edwin Allen had to settle for second position in the Championships of America high school girls’ 4x800m, as they were soundly beaten by New Jersey-based favourites Union Catholic in the final on day two of the 128th Penn Relays at the Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Friday.
Not only did Union Catholic defend their title, but the team of Jimmiea King, Peyton Hollis, Sophia Thompson, and Paige Sheppard did so in emphatic fashion, clocking a National Record of 8:41.20. They lowered the previous mark of 8:43.12 set in 2008 by Roosevelt.
Edwin Allen’s quartet of Tanesia Gardiner, Monique Stewart, Kevongaye Fowler, and Rickeisha Simms, gave a credible effort in second at 8:50.76, while Virginia-based South Lakes (8:50.8), were third.
The other Jamaican schools, Holmwood Technical (8:58.94) and Alphansus Davis (9:13.83), placed fifth and ninth respectively.
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