Champs 2023 underway!

Defending champs Kingston College, Edwin Allen fancied to repeat

By Ian Burnett CNW Sports Writer

Defending champions Kingston College and Edwin Allen High School will attempt to r e t a i n t h e i r t i t l e s a t t h e 2 0 2 3

ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics

Championships which began on Tuesday at inside Jamaica’s National Stadium

Kingston College will be hunting its 34th title, while Edwin Allen will go for their 10th lien Last year Kingston College ended with a massive 372 points on the boys’ side, to win ahead of Jamaica College with 300 83, Calabar with 170, St Jago High School with 147, and Edwin Allen High School on 95 points to complete the top five teams

Edwin Allen was top on the girls’ side with 352 points, followed by Hydel with 295, St Jago High with 249, Holmwood with 174, and Excelsior High School with 107 points to complete the top five teams

Based on the various development meets thus far this season, this year ’ s winners should come from the usual suspects with the defending champions fancied to repeat when the five-day competition comes to an end on Saturday night

Sixty-nine boys’ teams and 68 girls’ teams have been registered to participate in the spectacle which will see athletes contesting 88 events over the five days

The first day Tuesday comprised of all preliminaries, while Wednesday had 17 finals highlighted by the 100m for boys and girls

Thursday will have 13 finals, highlighted by the 400m, Friday will see 13 finals highlighted by several field events and the 400m hurdles, while Saturday’s final day will have 43 finals, highlighted by the 800m, 200m, 4x100m, and 4x400m relays

Each school will be allowed a maximum of two competitors per event only if both are ranked according to the “entry requirements”

Schools having more than two athletes ranked will not be given an extra spot

Title sponsors GraceKennedy Limited has allocated $175 million, $81m in cash, and the rest in execution, through its subsidiaries Grace

Foods, Grace Money Services, and First Global

This sum is a huge increase from the $88 million invested in the 2022 edition The winning schools will receive $1 million, with second place through to fifth place earning $750,000, $500,000, $300,000, and $200,000

In addition, a special digital award of $500,000 will be on offer for the boys’ and girls’ schools that break the most records The funds will go towards the schools’ digital curriculum as part of GraceKennedy’s drive for digital technology and advancement in schools

There will also be a special award of $250,000 each to the top teacher and coach of the winning boys’ and girls’ schools

Based on the summary of the post-seeding committee meeting as a result of the entries received, the following events will not have preliminary rounds: 1500M Class 2 Girls, 1500M Class 1 Girls, 400M Class 1 Girls, high jump Class 1 Girls; triple Jump Class 1 Boys,

St. Jago’s Abigail Martin breaks rst record at Champs 23, Discus Throw

St Jago High School’s Abigail Martin broke the first record on the opening day of the 2023 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships in Kingston’s National Stadium

Contesting Flight Two, Abigail Martin threw the 1kg implement 55 19m to smash the previous Girls’ Class One discus throw record of 53 04m by Fiona Richards of Edwin Allen High School on March 29, 2017 Incidentally, the winner of Flight One, Holmwood Technical High School’s Cedricka Williams, also went beyond the previous record with her 53 22m

Meanwhile, 17 finals, highlighted by the 100m for boys and girls, will take center stage on Wednesday following Tuesday’s opening day filled with preliminaries triple jump Class 2 Boys, 110M hurdles Class 2 Boys, 100M hurdles Class 2 Girls, 100M hurdles Class 1 Girls, 110M hurdles Class 1 Boys

Also, in an effort to facilitate extending the interval between the 1500M prelims and final, the 2000M steeplechase was removed as it was believed the event would have been a straight final While the girls will be a straight final, there are 18 entries for the boys necessitating a preliminary round to ensure the safety of the athletes

If there are withdrawals that reduce the number to 15 or less, the event will be declared a straight final The schedule did not factor in a preliminary round for the triple jump girls open Based on the number of entries, a preliminary round is required, and this has been scheduled for Wednesday, day 2 at 5:00 pm

The finals slated for the competition will ensure that points will start to accumulate for teams on Wednesday, as most of the favored athletes made smooth passage through to the next round

Defending champions Kingston College and Edwin Allen High School have so far qualified most of the athletes to the next phase with the hope of progressing these athletes to the finals