The ladies from Christiana, Manchester, have certainly stamped their class on Girls’ Champs over the years. The school seemed to explode unto the scene in 2002 with a decisive victory of the favoured St Jago High, but it has steadily made its mark on the event since the 1960s. Here are some facts:
- Holmwood’s nine victories on the trot (2003-2011) is the second longest winning streak in Girl’s Champs history, behind Vere Tech’s 15.
- Anneisha McLaughlin is one of the most successful athletes in Champs history, winning 19 gold medals across all classes.
- Sonita Sutherland’s 2004 class 2 record of 52.41 seconds was the second fastest time ever recorded in the event at Champs, in any class. She would lower the record to 52.10 seconds in her first year in class 1 (2005) and a year later, she took it down to 51.13 seconds.
- The 2001 4x400m team of McLaughlin, Kerri-Ann White, Karen Gayle and Sheryl Morgan was honoured with a place on the Penn Relays wall of fame in 2008.
- Not only did Yanique Thompson win the 100m hurdles gold medal at the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine, she became the first youth athlete to break the 13 second mark in the 100m hurdles, shattering the 14-year-old record of 13.08 seconds held by France’s Adrianna Lamalle.
Some information from Champs 100: A Century of Jamaican High School Athletics 1910-2010 by Hubert Lawrence
