Immaculate deliver ‘special’ Champs for coach Forde

Immaculate Conception High's coach, Franz Forde, believes their athletes' performance by finishing sixth with 105 points at the recent ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships made his 13th year as head coach special.

Forde's young charges dazzled with some exceptional performances over the five-day championships. He was proud of their display.

"This year has been nothing but remarkable. The girls performed at the highest level in all my 13 years, scoring 105.33 points," said Forde.

According to Forde, he was unsurprised by Immaculate's performance, as he had expected them to score over 100 points.

"Everything was inclined to go over 100 points this year. A few events didn't go how we planned; however, other girls stepped up to the task to fight to deliver critical points for our school," he stated.

"The girls were ready, motivated, believed in the impossible, prepared, and focused on the task.

"This championships, for me, is one I considered very memorable. The 4x100 metres Class Three girls, who chased their opponents down to the finish line, was one of the moments for me," he continued.

The quartet is Kayla Johnson, Naje Brown, Kyna Love Kelly and Kimberly Wright.

"Kimberly was like a getaway train on the track, and she was brilliant in the Class Three girls' 100 metres, where she placed second," Forde said.

"Zoelle Jamel, the then 14-year-old who celebrated her 15th birthday the night she won the Open javelin, was incredible. Here, she was competing against much older girls and to come out on top was unbelievable," said Fode, who also had double success in the event at the championships, as he is also the coach of Deandre Bristol of St George's College, who threw 61.29 metres to win the Open boys' event.

Forde also mentioned Jaeda Robinson, who was involved in the history-making Open girls' triple jump.

"Three girls, including Jaeda, who was second with a personal best of 13.21 metres, were involved in a historic moment in the Open triple jump, where three of the ladies went over 13 metres for the first time at the championships.

"She was motivated from her previous event, where she finished second in the Class Two long jump with a personal-best mark of 5.83 metres," continued Forde.