From March 25 – 29, 2025 schools from all over the island converged to compete in the prestigious ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs). The eyes of most Jamaicans were trained on the National Stadium as they cheered on their favourite teams to win a variety of track and field events. This year, the Sisters of Mercy were proud to be represented by Mt. St. Joseph Catholic High School (MSJCHS) and Convent of Mercy Academy, Alpha (aka Alpha Academy); each of which held their own among the nation’s top teams.
Mt. St. Joseph Catholic High School
Mt. St. Joseph Catholic High School took five students to Champs – all of whom made the school proud in this grueling competition. Supporters saw evidence of the hard work put in by athletes like Domonique Daley (400m for Class 2 Boys), and Jaeden Reid who competed in the Class 4 Girls long jump. Jaeden has, in particular, shown steady progress and finished the season with a personal best jump of 4.40m. The school was also impressed by the performances of Anthony Rochester and Kenrick Allison in the Class 2 Boys 200m race. In fact, Anthony ran a personal best of 11.32s in that race! The highlight of the competition came when Nishawn Walker’s abilities were put to the test during two semi-finals, the Class 1 Boys 400m and 200m races respectively, with him placing 7th in the latter. MSJCHS is tremendously proud of how far their team of young athletes have come!
Convent of Mercy Academy, Alpha
Alpha Academy has been enjoying a strong athletics season leading up to Champs, with them finishing fourth at the Corporate Area Championships – having won the Class Three sprint double (Seana Wilson), and establishing several Personal Bests. Their outstanding performance has been, in no small part, due to the expert guidance of Coach Kirk King who has been with the school since 2006. Coach King was quoted in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper as saying, “We have a small but high-quality team. Unlike some of the other top Corporate Area schools, we don’t have the numbers, but we are able to punch above our weight. With Champs being such a prestigious event, we expect to punch even harder,” he concluded, urging fans to continue supporting the team.”
And punch harder they did! Philipia James and Malaisha Shirley performed well in the Girls’ Class Four 70m Hurdles Finals, with Philipia leading the qualifiers of the event’s first round. Rajana Price also triumphed in the Girls’ Class 2 100m Hurdles, winning the bronze medal. Furthermore, the Girls’ Class four 4×100 team brought home the silver medal for the school! Overall, Alpha Academy ranked 12th place out of all the Girls’ teams at champs! This is an outstanding achievement and may be the school’s best finish ever.
This was a wonderful year at Champs for our schools who represented the Mercy banner with pride. We are extremely heartened to see the strides our teams are making as they grow from strength to strength each year. Over the years, this championship has seen several young athletes pass through; individuals who then went on to perform at the highest levels of their sport and even become Olympians. With the direction our teams are going, we have no doubt of their potential to do great things as well.
