 Switching lanes now on the Sports Max zone as we speed into our track and field segment on this magnificent Monday, Kingston College and Excelsior High retained their respective girls and boys titles at the two-day corporate area championship which ended at the Ashenheim Stadium at Jamaica College on Saturday. The Perthland Whiteup Kingston College emerged as the boys' winners for the tenth time in the 11th stagings of the event by finishing 78.5 points ahead of Calabar. Here is their sportsmaster Richard Smith after the North Street-based boys hoisted the brand-new Dave Myre Trophy. The team performance over the past two days was very good, very great I could say. We had a little miss up and down but we had overcome that and the boys had a high spirit coming into the second day knowing that we had a great lead and overcome opponents. So I could say that we had a good spirit and then this would help us basically going into champs, boys and girls championships for the different overtakes coming in the next two weeks or two weeks or four. Forte Scattery-Cettering Non-Potest, meanwhile the green and gold Eagles of Excelsior eaked out their eighth consecutive girls crown in a title race which came down to the final event as they finished four points clear of Wolmers. Here is the Excelsior sprint coach Joseph Small. I mean for the two days it has been a hectic two-day championship but obviously we could have managed the athletes as I can see come down to the last race so it was very hectic for the girls but nevertheless they come out victorious and in the A-type title they also performed well and I almost can't guess them. Yeah let's have a look at the final points tally now for both divisions, the girls, the Excelsior team coming up with a four by four hundred meter victory that gave them the title and finishing on 360 points four ahead of Wolmers girls 356 immaculate high in third spot and 298 followed by the Queen's School 200, San Andreas 163 and Alpha on 162 Merlegrove St. Hewes High, Holy Childhood and Campion College and running off the top ten. Here's how the boys tally ended four hundred and fifty two points Kingston College on top, Calabar second at 371.5, Jamaica College third that was their home base the Ashenheim Stadium JC there finishing behind Casey and Calabar, 316.5 points, Excelsior High 195 points were fourth and Georgia's College fifth on 146 points, Wolmers finished six on 140 then Campion College Holy Trinity, Arden High and Kingston High making up the top ten spots. It's a momentum for both Kingston College and Excelsior Ricardo you were on commentary for both days given all that happened at the Ashenheim Stadium was this as some people feel the best corporate era championship of all time. Yeah I think so Lance and Mariah 29 records broken over the two days, two records equaled so you could count that as 31 by any stretch of the imagination that is impressive and the performances were outstanding we're talking about world class performances at the under 20 level and because of that and when you consider as well that a lot of the track performances and especially the sprint performances were done in negative wind reading then it makes it even more significant and really a number of athletes also got pretty close to champs records which I felt was outstanding as well so Natrice East for example in the class three girls 200 meters running 23.27 seconds that shocked me because in the history of class three girls running there is Kevona Davis who is the champs record holder at 23.07 that was 2017 there is Anisha McLaughlin now will be who was 23.11 in 2001 for homework technical and then there's Natrice East at 23.27 what she produced was extremely special on Saturday so I think when you put everything together in my opinion yes the best corporate area and then the way the girls championship finished as well going down to the final event I can't recall anything like that happening at corporate before where either the boys or the girls championship race or well yes championship race title race went down to the final event yeah and I heard you mentioning on commentary that the organizers for the the crescendo of the event could have considered switching and making the girls event being the final event because it was the entire audience was on tenterhooks watching what would happen there because Woolmer's needed to win for a tie but any defeat would mean Excelsior would have won so the boys title was already decided with the purpose dominating and to have the final event being the decider for the girls the organizers could have made that the crescendo event couldn't they yeah I guess they could have but it would have required a very late change and they didn't expect that yeah they didn't expect that an intracanfield sometimes you don't want to make those late changes I mean uber pointed out on commentary that it would only be a five or ten minute difference but athletes warm up for their events at a particular time and so on and the original schedule had the girls going first and I don't think you can blame them for following through on that but I don't think it took anything away from what we saw on the girls side and the way this ended there were points of this four by four race where it looked as if Wilmers could create the upset and end in a tie and let me also say had Wilmers won the four by four although they would have ended in a tie on points Wilmers would have won the title because the tiebreaker is the number of gold medals won and Wilmers are ahead in that category and so even now that they've lost yes had they been able to finish in a tie they would have been grounded champions I didn't realize that you mentioned the trees east just now and this is something that we have seen over the years in track and field at the high school level in Jamaica where class three performers outgun or outperform or produce better performances than class two and class one athlete so we saw the trees east her 100 and 200 meter times as a class three winner was better than the class two and class one winners so for our viewers this is a case of 13 14 year olds running faster than 18 19 year olds and as I said it's it's something we have seen generally in Jamaica's track and field but it continues to be something that is is news catching isn't it or newsworthy yeah so I think the trees east is special especially so at 200 meters clearly she's very good at 100 meters as well but I think at 200 meters she's a real special talent she is going to be extremely difficult to beat at champs I like Etienne as well the Dominican who is now at Edwin all in high school and started the season at 1170 at Jamaica College and has looked very good throughout the course of the season the central championships comes up over the next two days Tuesday and Wednesday so it will be interesting to see what Etienne produces she is chasing the Dominican junior records at both 100 and 200 she already has the 100 record whether she'll be able to get the 200 record is another thing but east is special lads last year she went to the carifter games I think as a 13 year old and I thought she had the goods to win the double there but unfortunately also felt she was extremely tired and you could see that that got the better of her and young Nabi out of the Bahamas was outstanding take nothing away from her in front of her home crowd another outstanding talent there as well and she caught the double but I would be surprised if Natrice East did not sweep everything before her this year although there are other quality competitors I think she is such quality right now she's going to be tough to beat trying to recall those two races in the Bahamas last year I can't recall Natrice East losing by far in both the 100 and 200 she got close in at least one of them I recall really poor starts at both 100 and 200 meters she tried to run back but I just think she didn't have the gas she didn't have the gas it was a long season it was a tough season she had just come off a difficult boys and girls championships and it's always difficult when you're just coming off one major event and then having to travel for another major event and she was only 13 years old so I think that showed a year ago but I think the experience of that plus the fact that she is a much improved athlete will serve her well and she'll become a senior if you will at the under 17 level at Carifter this year so I think all of that will serve her really well yeah what about Michaela Gardner reaching individual 10 gold medals that's special you know that's a special achievement before I even talk about her I want you to hear how she reacted to the fact that she'd gotten to 10 individual gold medals all time at the corporate championships gold medals oh my god I feel so I feel so I didn't know what to say but 10 gold medals has an improvement oh my god I just can't believe but 10 gold medals means that putting a lot of work lot of work and this means I'm coming at champs he's coming at champs oh my god she she that's good to express herself she was it was too good and I understand yeah what she has achieved is quite special um so when you think about it we're not talking about 10 gold medals including relays we're talking about 10 individual gold medals four times now in her corporate area career she has done a double whether it has been 200 400 or 100 200 that is special and this time around it was also special because I felt her teammate Abigail Wolfe looked really good in the 200 meters leading up to the final and she was able to hold her off to shrug off that challenge interestingly Abigail Wolfe attended Holy childhood she's only just transferred to Wilmas the last time Abigail Wolfe she's had a lot of injury issues um competed at corporate was in 2020 and she was actually beaten by Michaela Gardner in the 100 meters Abigail Wolfe won the class two 100 meters at champs in 2023 that was last year so she is real quality there and she joins the Wilmas fold but Michaela Gardner is special her father the late Michael Gardner ran for Norman Manley at the Issa Boys and Girls Athletics Championships and for Jamaica at the Carifter Games as well won a champs gold and silver medal I think it was in the early 2000s real standout performer for his school at the time and she has followed that lineage as well as her younger sister by the way who got two silver medals in the class four girls event Michaela Gardner so there's Michaela Gardner and there is Michaela Gardner yeah really good talents and and just a quick thing to close off this Michaela Gardner thing she has one now or she has those 10 corporate area gold medals individually at champs she has two individual silver medals 200 in class four she was beaten by Alana Reid who we know last year set records at 100 1092 Jamaican junior record and she lost to Alana last year in the 200 meter she was second behind Alana Reid so it shows that she has a lot of quality she can go across 100 200 400 meters I know Ubert feels that she is one of those athletes who can make a successful transition into the senior ranks and we just look forward to see what will happen with her yeah Ricardo because of the quality of the girls category or should I say lack of from a national perspective yes at corporate yeah corporate area championships won't tell us too much about girls and boys championship because Wulmer's and Excelsior are not expected to challenge the the big guns for that for the for the for the girls title but in the boys division where KC Kanabar and Jamaica College are the top schools they're also the top schools for the All Island high school boys and girls championship so did you see anything over the weekend in the boys championship that would have been an indicator to what could happen at boys and girls champs yeah so before I answer the question on the boys side last I just want to take the girls aspect quickly because you are right Wulmer's Excelsior won't be contenders for the girls title at champs yes what they will provide though are some of the most outstanding individual performers so for example Wulmer's will come with a young lady by the name of Tiana Marshall she will go in the class to 100 herders quite likely in the 100 as well she won the double at corporate 1192 for the 100 meters but a staggering 13.20 seconds for the 100 herders she is the top athlete in that division in Jamaica for 2024 so far but she's not even the favorite because there are two outstanding athletes out of San Diego Brianna Campbell and Brianna Davidson who have done well at the carifter level as well and when they come together I think we're going to get one of the all-time great herders clashes on the girls side at champs that's one of the events actually that I'm looking forward to most at champs because there is so much quality there the sprint herders for women sprint herders class almost mirroring what's happening globally because the women's sprint hurdles is one of the most unpredictable events on the global circuit there you go Lance the she broke on Saturday so Tiana Marshall on Saturday broke Akira Nugent's corporate area record Akira Nugent's champs record is 1291 and still intact and I think if one of these girls don't break it come champs they will get really close and 1291 is serious running at this level so really look forward to that to the boys now Lance what did I see one I saw Kingston College our favorites to retain their boys champs title two and JC fans please forgive me I see that Jamaica College has a team that can challenge Kingston College definitely saw that I really hope though that when they get there and the fire in the belly is required to get the job done that they will have it on those days that is what I hope for Jamaica College because if they have that fire that is required to push you over the top and get you to where you want to which is the title then I think it's going to be a dream race yeah if they don't have that fire then like we saw at corporate Calabar could slip in and if either of them slip up Calabar has the potential this year to upset but I think that is far-fetched because I think the best two teams on the boys side Kingston College and Jamaica College yeah but you're doubting Jamaica College is fire because you didn't say but I guess it was it was inferred that Casey has that you know that already they always have it okay that's the one thing you cannot take away yeah they always have that fire they're always ready for battle and I can't say that Jamaica College is always ready for battle and so you're you're uncertain at times whether they will show up in the way that you know they have the potential to and if they do then you have a terrific race but if they don't then Casey could run away with it okay Ricardo pretty comprehensive in your recap of what happened over the two days friday and saturday as the ace and lead commentator at the meet but is there any other performer or performance that you haven't mentioned so far that you wouldn't want to wrap this segment without mentioning yeah performer maybe the young man from excelsia um demarco benet who won the class two boys 400 meters he ran 47.43 which is just off the corporate era record of 47.41 that's really good running in class two however problem for him is that the fastest athlete in high school in jamaica this year at 400 is another class two athlete nicole bramwell out of calabar who has run 46.75 which is faster than everyone else in high school in jamaica this year he was a carifter last year he is actually the carifter raining carifter under 17 champions so i think that's going to be a fabulous battle when they go head to head this kid is also good at 400 hurdles he is the favorite for the 400 hurdles title and bramwell showed his class at 200 at corporate with a 21 45 run in a negative wind and i also cannot leave lands without talking about two walmers boys um one maria ross who everybody who follows um high school track and field in jamaica closely knew coming into 2024 that he would start as the sprint double favorite for the class three boys um events 1099 in a negative wind on friday night um tells you that he is firing firing and and ready to deliver something special there's a young man from calabar a chet brown who won the 200 in 22 38 who i think will be dangerous but ross is still the favorite and i also have to talk about geary card because i saw him winning the 200 on saturday 20.87 lands i'm starting to think that this kid is special he's had a lot of injury issues over the years he was a star at prep school lots of injury issues coming through the high school um circuit won a silver medal at carifter a couple years ago 2022 and at champs in class two he started this season by running 60s against the big men at gc foster college and i thought he looked really impressive um ran 10.88 for 100 meters in a minus 5.6 meters per second wind last week and then he's never been good at 200 and this kid just runs 20.87 and you're like wow coming into the season i'm stealing 15 seconds the android daily the second fastest jamaican june of all time um carifter champion 2022 1008 last year started 2024 as the massive favorite then you have hector from jamaica college opening at 1031 um daily opened at 1040 last week but then goes to western champs this weekend and finishes fourth in the 100 wow and doesn't make the 200 final and you start wondering what's going on and if he is not up to par then geary card could be the man for the double a lot of exciting story lines it's it's listen high school track and field in in jamaica is just too sweet at the moment yeah i think i think the record says that and tradition um verifies the point as well we go to break we'll be back with more on the sports mic zone after this