21 JC, Edwin Allen take Champs Jamaica College athletes celebrate winning the boys’ title at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships inside the National Stadium on Saturday night. ANTOINE LODGE/PHOTOGRAPHER Edwin Allen Athletes celebrate winning the girls’ title at the 2026 ISSA/ GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships inside the National Stadium on Saturday night. JAMAICA’S REGGAE Boyz 2026 World Cup qualification aspirations came to an end against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Intercontinental Play-offs in Mexico over a week ago, but there is still a wrinkle for those closest to the game. The nature of the Boyz’s exit continues to be a point of discussion, with video footage showing Axel Tuanzebe’s arm getting a touch before the ball crossed the line in the 0-1 loss. The regulation period had failed to produce a winner in the World Cup play-off game against the Africans, and Tuanzebe’s goal from a corner in the 100th minute proved decisive, as it booked Congo’s place at the World Cup tournament. Reggae Boyz coach for the two playoff games, Rudolph Speid, insists they were hard done by the video assistant referee (VAR). “If you look at the replay, that goal should not have been awarded, and VAR always go against us. In the [National] Stadium (against Curacao) it was the same thing. We got a penalty and VAR overruled it. With DR Congo we drew in full time, and I think VAR beat us,” he stated. Views among local football experts on the subject vary. Veteran coach and analyst Calvert Fitzgerald said it is inexplicably that VAR allowed Tuanzebe’s goal, and believes the only credible explanation is the proximity of a Jamaican defender when the ball was deflected on to the player’s hand, although Tuanzebe was more than three metres away from Joel Lattibeaudiere, who diverted the ball at the near post with a header. “The only explanation I can think of is that VAR looked at it and they have all the angles. But in recent times, officials are not giving a goal if somebody is close to you and the ball touched your hand. I don’t know if that is what they are saying. It didn’t look that way to me. So I don’t understand it, but that is the only explanation that I could say they can use. “They call it ‘proximity to the person’. If he is running in and the ball touched a person before touching a hand, they do not normally call penalty or reprimand players for it, but because it caused a goal, even if the player did not willfully handle the ball, it allowed the goal to be scored,” he said. THE 116TH ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) were all blue, as Edwin Allen dethroned defending champions Hydel to secure their 11th title, while Jamaica College got the better of defending champions Kingston College to claim their 23rd. It was wire-to-wire victories for both teams, who led from the opening day. After 46 events Edwin Allen sat atop the standings with 338.5 points, ahead of defending champions Hydel (259.5), Holmwood (167), Immaculate Conception (110), and St Jago (91), rounding out the top five. On the boys’ side, after 42 finals, Jamaica College ended on 345 points, followed by Kingston College (282), Calabar (169.33), St Jago (121.83), and Wolmer’s (105) completing the top five. Edwin Allen’s girls dominated the 4x100m relays, winning two and finishing second in two. Their Class 1 team got the show under way, winning in 44.43 seconds, ahead of Hydel (45.25) and Holmwood (46.80). Their Class 4 team won in 47.64 seconds, ahead of Hydel (48.36) and Vere Technical (48.44). In Class 2, they clocked 45.25 seconds to finish second behind St Jago, who won in a meet record 44.81, while they were also second in Class 3 in 45.81, as Convent of Mercy Academy (Alpha) won in 44.59. Honours were shared among the boys, with Jamaica College, Excelsior, and Wolmer’s each winning one event. In Class 1, Excelsior, without their Class 1 100m champion Riquelme Reid, won in 39.53 seconds, as Jamaica College and Kingston College both clocked 39.66 for second and third respectively. Jamaica College won Class 2 in 40.32, ahead of Calabar (40.42) and Kingston College (49.48). Wolmer’s ran out easy winners in Class 3 in 42.70, ahead of Jamaica College (43.31) and St Jago (43.41). Not for the first time in the last five days, Shanoya Douglas of Holland High was on fire inside the National Stadium, delivering a stunning performance in the Class 1 girls’ 200m. Douglas blew away her rivals to win the event in a national junior record of 22.36 seconds, despite running into a negative 1.6-metre per second wind. Edwin Allen’s pair of Alexxe Henry (23.63) and Shanique Cassanova (24.27) finished second and third respectively. FASTEST EVER TIME The winning time by Douglas was the fastest ever by a Jamaican junior female athlete. In the process, she erased the Champs record of 22.53 set in 2022 by former St Jago High athlete Brianna Lyston, and also broke the national junior record of 22.50 seconds held by Briana Williams. Douglas, who had earlier captured the Class 1 100 metres, was one of several double winners on the day. Wolmer’s Natrece East completed the girls’ Class 2 sprint double, following her 100m win with victory in the 200 metres in 23.54. Alex Jordan-Hall of Clarendon College, Kevongaye Fowler of Edwin Allen, and Julius Itubo of Kingston College all secured doubles, adding the 800 metres to their earlier 1500m wins. Coaches still smarting over VAR call that cost Reggae Boyz In the boys’ Class 2 800m, Markland Williams of Denbigh High registered the first-ever win at the championships by an athlete from the May Pen-based institution, clocking an impressive personal best 1:52.58. THE WEEKLY GLEANER | APRIL 16 - MAY 14, 2026 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | SPORTS BRIEFS
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