St Jago’s Page sets sights on faster times at Champs
ST JAGO High School’s Class Three athlete, Marquies Page, was, undoubtedly, the most outstanding performer at this week’s Central Athletics Championships at G.C. Foster College.
Page left the meet with two record-breaking performances and two wins. On the first day of the meet, he broke the 100m record twice. In the preliminary round, he clocked 11.19 seconds to break the 11.29 mark set by his teammate Ray J. Reece. Later that same day, he broke his own mark with a 10.89 clocking to win the final.
Page’s winning time could have been faster as 10 metres from the finish line, he slowed down to point at the display clock. His time is the fastest in the class this season, beating the 10.99 Wolmer’s Boys’ School’s Mario Ross clocked to win the event at the Corporate Area Development Meet last week.
The best performance from Page came on the second and final day of the Central Championships. Despite running against a massive head wind of negative 4.4 metres per second in the 100m hurdles final, Page smashed his own record of 13.40 seconds, producing a new mark of 13.20.
The St Jago star has promised faster times at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs).
“I feel really good about my performances, and I just followed the instructions given to me by my coaches, and I just executed to the best of my ability,” Page said while hailing the contributions of head coach Bertland Cameron and his assistants, Maurice Broadbell and Oshane Bailey.
He was always confident that he was going to produce fast times.
“My training coming into the season has been great. I am very confident of going much faster at Champs,” he shared.
He will be taking dead aim at both records set by former Jamaica College athletes. Christopher Scott has the 100m record of 10.69, set in 2019, while Neil Matthew Sutherland holds the 100m hurdles record of 12.87, set in 2018. Page won the 100m hurdles last year in 13.38.
A former student of Ocho Rios Primary School, Page said it was a family member and past student of St Jago who encouraged him to attend the Spanish Town-based school.
“When I did my PEP examination I did not select St Jago. I passed for Holmwood Technical, but I was about to go to Jamaica College, who were moving to recruit me at the time,” he said.
“That changed, however, when my aunt called me from the United States. She told me that I have to go to St Jago, and I am very happy I did, as St Jago is a top school in St Catherine,” Page said.
His aunt, Kashain Page, represented St Jago in the late 1990s and was a member of a winning girls’ team at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.