Boys Champs 2008 Day 1 Results and Highlights
Kingston College lead the Boys’ section with 13 points after one final following yesterday’s first day of the GraceKennedy/ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships at the National Stadium. There was a lone record in the heats of the Class 1 4×100m as St Jago clocked a swift 39.78secs to erase their one-year-old mark of 39.80secs, with Yohan Blake on anchor. KC finished down the line in their heat and have been eliminated.
Wolmer’s are second with 11 points, followed by Morant Bay seven, Jamaica College three and St Jago two for the top five. Defending champions and favourites Calabar are yet to score a point. Yesterday was not without incident as proceedings were delayed for an hour-and-a-half due to a protest by coaches who were denied access to the bleachers to watch their athletes. The matter was satisfactorily resolved.
Tarik Batchelor, who will be taking up a full scholarship at the University of Arkansas this summer, leaped 7.60 metres to win the Class One long jump.
Batchelor’s teammate, Kemardo Tyrell, took fifth to take KC’s points tally to 13. The medals were completed by Morant Bay’s Dean Swimmer (7.27m) and Akeem Elliott of Wolmer’s (7.10m).
Four finals will be completed today - the Class One Boys discus, the Class 3 high jump, the pole vault Open and the Heptathlon.
Kevin Bradford of St Jago produced 44.38 metres to top the qualifiers in the Class One discus yesterday. Noel Facey of Calabar heaved 44.32m and JC’s Shane Dodd, 43.63m.
After four events in the seven-event Heptathlon, title-holder Andrew Riley Riley of Calabar leads with 3,216 points, followed by Kamal Fuller of Wolmer’s (2870).
Acting Principal Jennifer Gordon Dies Deaths inspire us to do better - Calabar track team
The death of three prominent members of the school community in a little over four months has hit them hard, but members of Calabar High School’s track team say the losses have motivated them to do even better and win the 2008 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Athletic Championships, which begin today at the National Stadium.
The Calabar school fraternity woke up to the news last Saturday morning that Acting Principal Jennifer Gordon had collapsed and died at home the night before.
Gordon had been acting in place of principal Lincoln Thaxter since last September, but had been a teacher at the school for nearly 30 years.
The news of Gordon’s death came within months of the death of football team coach David Hunt, who collapsed and died in his bathroom on Friday, October 26, and that exactly one month later of former school track team coach, Jamaican Olympic legend Herb McKenley on November 26.
Taking the violence out of Boys and Girls Champs
The experts agree that the near 100-year-old high schools athletics championship, now known as the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Champs, probably is the single most important reason for the great strength of Jamaica’s track and field. Jamaica’s athletic giants, dating back to arguably the most complete of them all, National Hero Norman Washington Manley who dominated ‘Champs’ in 1911, have honed their skills at the annual track and field festival.
Name them, they have all been there. From the legendary Olympians Herb McKenley and Arthur Wint to the likes of Donald Quarrie, Lennox Miller, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, Deon Hemmings and to our current crop that includes Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell, Sherone Simpson and Usain Bolt, every generation of Jamaican athletes has been indebted to the ISSA-run boys’ and girls’ championships.
So great has been the impact of ‘Champs’ that several countries across the Caribbean region and elsewhere now seek to replicate it. But such is the nature of culture, tradition and history that the very special atmosphere that goes with Champs will remain unique to the Jamaican version. The excitement generated by the decades-old competition involving schools such as Jamaica College, Wolmer’s, Calabar and Kingston College has to be felt to be properly appreciated.
Unfortunately, that very excitement and intense competition have also seeded a negative aspect: sporadic violence down the years between supporters of the various schools.
Hence the decision - announced over recent days - by three of our leading boys’ schools - Jamaica College, Calabar and Kingston College - to jointly take initiatives to combat those who would disrupt the peace at Champs.
C&W Jamaica brings Asafa Powell to Boys and Girls Champs 2008
The world’s fastest man, Asafa Powell, will be on hand to present prizes to the top male and female athletes at this year’s Inter-Secondary Schools Association (ISSA) Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships, courtesy of Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ), an associate sponsor of the meet.
C&WJ has contributed approximately $3.8 million to the staging of the 2008 championships, which is the second allocation under a three-year agreement with ISSA. The amount represents a 15 per cent increase over C&WJ’s contribution last year.
Vice-president corporate communications Errol Miller said C&WJ’s continued sponsorship of the High School Championships demonstrates his company’s commitment to youth and sports development in Jamaica.
“We are gratified to have the opportunity to make a major contribution to a sport that has done so much to put our country on the map,” he said. “And we are proud to be involved in unearthing and showcasing the talents of the next generation of athletes that will continue our proud tradition in track and field.”
School is no Joke Tour Passes Through Calabar High
You’ve got mail, Voicemail!
On the Wednesday of last week, the tour visited three schools, Jamaica College, Kingston College and Calabar; the alma maters of the members of the Dancehall trio, Voicemail. The first stop was Jamaica College, which exultantly welcomed the artistes. Kevin and Oniel highlighted that the members of the group, although coming from different backgrounds (schools) worked together to achieve success.
The final stop was at Calabar High School. This tour was by far the most organised tour of the three. The students were all neatly seated in the auditorium when the bus arrived.
Dancehall Trio - Voicemail
There were cheers of excitement and anxiety when the bus parked outside the auditorium, as many of the students wondered which entertainers were in the bus. Craig, Kevin and Oneil departed from the bus and made their way to the platform inside the auditorium. The boys were very attentive and the artistes admirably delivered an exquisite speech. The boys asked interesting and productive questions. One of the awardees for most-improved student collected the award on behalf of the students.
Gibson Relays 2008 Results and Highlights
Defending Inter-Secondary boys champions Calabar High gave St Jago High’s crack sprint quartet a huge scare before losing in the final strides in an exciting end to the Gibson Relays Class One 4×100 metres relay at the National Stadium yesterday.
Led by the outstanding World Youth Championships 200 metres gold medallist Ramone McKenzie on the second leg, Calabar dominated for the first 300m and it took a devastating run from national junior 100m record holder Yohan Blake on the final leg to earn victory for St Jago ahead of Calabar’s anchorman Oshane Bailey. St Jago crossed the line in 40.29 with Calabar second in 40.81 and Jamaica College third in 40.81.
ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Athletic Championships 2008 Launched
The perennial matter of security will be high on the agenda for the annual ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Athletic Championships, with 20 per cent of the J$8.3-million budget for the 2008 event, which will take place from March 12-15 at the National Stadium, geared towards security.
Champs Chairman, Clement Radcliffe, speaking at yesterday’s launch of the island’s biggest track & field meeting at the Knutsford Court Hotel, said no more than 24,000 tickets will be sold for the bleachers section of the National Stadium.
Independence Park Limited general manager, Major Desmond Brown, told the Observer the National Stadium has a seating capacity of 30,000, with 5,404 of those seats in the Grandstand. Read more
Foreigners invade 32nd Gibson Relays - Calabar Set to Shine
Teams from the Netherlands Antilles, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas have indicated their intent to compete in today’s 32nd staging of the Gibson Relays at the National Stadium, in hopes of qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The teams will compete in the 4×100m event at the relay carnival which is being used for the first time this year as an Olympic Games qualifying meet, after it was approved as such last year by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
IAAF rules state that for relays, only the best 16 national teams which meet the qualifying standard between January 1, 2007 and July 16, 2008, will be eligible to compete at the Olympics which will be held in China from August 8-24.
Meanwhile, close to 3,000 athletes have been confirmed to participate in the relays, which are expected to boast teams from St Jago, Holmwood, Wolmer’s, Calabar, Kingston College, and Jamaica College participating in 37 events, including eight Championship races. Read more
Reverend Dr Horace Russell a Great Jamaican
This evening, the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU) hosts a worship service at Calabar to mark the 50th anniversary of the ordination of the Reverend Dr Horace Russell to the Christian ministry.
This significant milestone will be held in the context of a very important week because starting tomorrow, the JBU will be hosting its 159th assembly.
It is also symbolic that it is being held at the historic Calabar, a place where Russell went to high school, theological college and a place where he was ordained and became chaplain. It was a place where he baptised boys, including Derrick Kellier, MP. Read more
Calabar High team set to Dominate Howard Jackson Relays
World Youth 200m champion, Romaine McKenzie and his Calabar High team, could have things their own way at the 23rd staging of the Serge Island-sponsored Howard Jackson Relays at Paul Bogle Junior High School in Morant Bay, today, starting at 9:00 a.m.
McKenzie, along with Jermaine Brown and Oshaine Bailey, should lead their team in the Class One 4×150 and 4×300m events against Camperdown, Holmwood, Morant Bay and St. George’s. Calabar should also fancy their chances in Class Two with Earl Lee and Robert Palmer, who finished one-two at last week’s Douglas Forrest Invitational. Read more
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General community site and blog for one of Jamaica's finest educational Institutions, Calabar High School.
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