Two Big 100m Upsets at Jamaica Champs
Alliah Baker (photo above) of Hydel High School and Damor Miller of Excelsior High school staged major upsets in the marquee 100m races last week Wednesday (20th) at the ISSA Boys and Girls High School Championships (Champs 2024) in Kingston.
Both athletes went into Champs without fanfare, and both came from behind to snatch victory from the early pacesetters in impressive fashion.
Baker, a powerful and rangy quarter-miler, stepped down from her usual 400m to take on the sprint double and stepped up in ranking to captain Hydel’s team in pursuit of defending their title. She clocked a whopping 11.34secs (1.4w), lowering her personal best (pb) from 11.59 set in January.
The high-stepping Baker showed glimpses of her 100m capabilities last year when she anchored her school’s 4x100m race at Champs and the Penn Relays.
She later won gold in the 200m, and gold in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays (for backstretch and anchor duties, respectively).
On the male side, the fleet-footed Miller clocked 10.31 (0.1w) to lower his pb from 10.39 he registered in his semi-final race.
He was the dark horse in the event, having placed fifth last year and ranked 15th best time among Class 1 boys. But Miller got to the final quietly confident that he could win, and he did.
Unlike his female counterpart, Miller did not pick up another gold when his team failed to finish in the top three in the 4x100m in which he ran the second leg.