Hydel’s team of Alliah Baker, Shania Myers, Shemonique Hazle and Juwonna Whitehorne combined to run 45.99 to win heat 13 and advance with the fastest time overall.
Holmwood Technical (Regina Bailey, Kiara Meikle, Sadeena Holder, Monique Proudlove) combined to run 46.38 and advance as winners of the ninth heat ahead of St. Mary High (Akeeliah Barnes, Kaliesha Bell, Shagay Sheppy, Tianna Rhoomes) who also made it through with 46.46.
St. Jago High (Rae-Annia Williams, Kryshell Hoolong, Seanagaye Leslie, Tamara Bailey) with 46.55, Edwin Allen (Trezeguet Taylor, Theianna-Lee Terrelonge, Jounee Armstrong, Shanique Cassanova) with 46.59 and Wolmer’s Girls (Mikayla Gardner, Tianna Marshall, Natrece East, Abigayle Wolfe) with 46.72 will also be in Friday’s final.
Hydel are defending champions in the event.
The quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brandy Hall and Tia Clayton had a string of flawless baton exchanges to eventually cross the finish line in a time of 43.37 seconds, a new meet record and high school world record.
They finished more than a full second ahead of Hydel who ran 44.40 for second place while St. Jago finished third in 45.50.
Edwin Allen also took the girls Class 4 4x100 in 48.81 and the 4x200m Open in 1:35.91.
Hydel High girls won the Girls Class 2 4x100m in 44.62 and the 4x400m relay in 3:33.76.
Holmwood Technical was also in record-breaking form in the Girls Sprint Medley with 3:55.77 to better the previous meet record of 4:00.83.
Meanwhile, Jamaica College’s 4x800m team was also in fine form, running a new meet record of 7:24.30 to finish almost 12 seconds ahead of second-place finishers Kingston College who ran 7:36.21. St. Jago was third in 7:45.46.
JC smashed the previous meet record of 7:31.71.
Kingston College won two of the four sprint relays, running 44.36 and 45.99 to win Classes 3 and 4, respectively.
The Class 1 4x100m was won by St. Jago in 40.26 ahead of JC (40.40) and St. Catherine High (40.50) while Calabar stormed to victory in Class 2 in 42.19 ahead of KC (42.26).
St. Jago also won the final event of the meet, the boys’ 4x400m in 3:10.48 ahead of KC (3:11.43) and JC (3:12.49).
JC won the Boys’ Sprint Medley in 3:30.82 ahead of KC (3:31.53) and Calabar (3:38.40).
There were also some standout performances from the seniors on display, namely Tissana Hickling and Lushane Wilson.
Hickling won the Women’s Long Jump in 6.70m and 100m in 11.85 while Wilson leapt to a new personal best 2.21m to win the Men’s High Jump.
“LSU is surrounded with champions and that’s where I want to be,” said Prince.
The Spanish Town, Jamaica, native will arrive to LSU with plenty of experience at a young age. Prince specializes in the 400 meter and can get it done across 200 meters also. Currently he holds personal-best times of 45.70 seconds in the 400m and 20.92 seconds in the 200m.
At last year’s NJCAA Outdoor Championships he was able to record a collegiate personal-best time of 45.85 seconds to finish sixth. He also helped the 4×100-meter relay team to a third-place finish and a time of 39.76 seconds. Indoors, Prince finished 12th in 2023 at the Championship with a time of 21.40 seconds.
The former St. Jago High School student helped Jamaica to a silver-medal finish last year at the NACAC U23 Championships with a squad time of 3:19.66.
In high school Prince was the 2022 ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships Class One champion across 400m, winning with a time of 45.99 seconds.
At LSU, Prince joins fellow Caribbean athletes Jaiden Reid of the Cayman Islands, Jaden James of Trinidad and Tobago and Jahiem Stern of Jamaica on the school's men's roster.
Williams, a finalist at the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi two years ago, threw 53.22m to break former Edwin Allen standout Fiona Richards' Class One discus record 53.04m, set in 2017, with her only throw in flight one of the preliminaries.
Her record would last only a few hours, however, as Martin broke Williams' record with a 55.19m effort in flight two, setting up an interesting clash between the two in the final.
The team of Alliah Baker, Brianna Lyston, Kerrica Hill and Onieka McAnuff ran an impressive 3:39.34 to lead all qualifiers into Friday’s final.
Holmwood Technical (3:41.45), Edwin Allen (3:45.29), St. Jago (3:49.50) and Excelsior (3:51.15) also advanced to the final.
The region will also have two representatives in the 4x800m final, also scheduled for Friday, as both Edwin Allen (9:13.89) and Holmwood Technical (9:23.48) advanced from the heats.
Dawkins, who fouled her first two jumps, cut the sand at 12.54m on her third attempt to book her spot in the top eight, from where she jumped like a girl possessed, cutting the sand at 12.74m, before soaring to her winning mark.
She won ahead of Immaculate Conception’s Jaeda Robinson, who recorded a best jump of 13.21m, while Celine Riddle of Holmwood Technical won bronze with 13.04m.
The 18-year-old Dawkins, who took the triple jump and long jump double last year, will be looking to repeat the feat when she contests the latter on Saturday’s final day of the five-day spectacle.
