Elisha Darrell and Kevin Miller set personal bests in the under-20 high jump during Saturday’s final day of competition in the XL Catlin Bermuda National Championships.

Jah-Nhai Perinchief, just off a hectic freshman year at Iowa Community College, won the event with a jump of 2.17 metres after starting his jumping with the bar at 2.06 metres, which he cleared at the first attempt. By that time, Miller, 18, had already set a personal best of 2.03 before failing in his three attempts at 2.06.

Darrell, 17, then failed at three attempts at 2.10 after his 2.06 jump also gave him a new personal best.

That left Perinchief, who set a new Bermuda junior record and personal best at the KT Woodman Classic at the Wichita State University in April when he cleared 2.26. However, he failed at 2.23 as he sought to close in on his best leap which was just three centimetres shy of the Olympic qualifying height of 2.29.

“I came trying to find my rhythm, which I have lost since I’ve been back,” Perinchief said. “It’s been a really long season, but it’s not over because I still have the World Juniors [Poland in July].

“I reached my goal today, which was to jump between 2.15 and 2.20, and anything after that would have been a bonus.”

Darrell and Miller held the crowd’s attention as they reached personal best jumps, with Miller knocking over the bar in his first two attempts at 2.03 before he was able to improve on his previous best jump of 2.00.

“I’ve been jumping with Jah-Nhai and Elisha since we were younger, so it is nice having Jah-Nhai back because it is always good competition, even though you know he jumps a lot higher,” said the Bermuda College student, who turns 18 next month.

“Any PB is good and it makes a perfect day. And 2.06 looked pretty promising, I just need to hold my arch a little bit more. No shame at all, I’m proud of myself and proud of my friends. We all did good.”

Darrell increased his personal best from 2.05 and was aiming to go even higher after clearing 2.06, but could not match the challenge at 2.10.

“I felt good, my ankle is a little messed up and I haven’t jumped 2.05 consistently.” he said.

“Jah-Nhai really helped me, giving me tips, as since he has been away in college he has increased his PB.”

Rohaan Simons, the Bermuda high jump coach, is excited with the jumping talent he has seen lately.

“It’s fantastic to see these guys coming from youngsters coming into the sport to putting on a show like this today in jumping against a fierce competitor like Jah-Nhai,” Simons said.

“These guys have been taught to attack and they just went after it today — both personal bests, which was fantastic. Jah-Nhai has had a very, very long season and has not just been doing high jump but also 400 metres, long jump and triple jump.

“When he came back, he was fatigued and it was about going back to basics, so I told him between 2.15 and 2.20 would be a very good target. He’s got more training to do and I can see more from him in the near future. We’ll be travelling to Poland and he’ll be just about peaking at that point.

“We have a lot of talent right now; I’m talking about 11, 12 and 13-year-olds who have a lot of quality, but it’s untapped.”

In other events yesterday, Tre Houston outsprinted visiting trio Lestrod Roland, Jason Rogers and Alistair Clarke to complete the 100 and 200 metres double, taking the 200 with a time of 21.10sec, while Roland clocked 21.29, Rogers 21.42 and Clarke 21.45. Courtney Williams, of St Vincent, was fifth in 21.93.

Tiara DeRosa added the under-20 shot title to her win in the discus the previous night, winning with a throw of 11.20.

Syriah Lottimore, who is attending Lake Mary Prep School in Florida, won the under-17 girls 100 in a time of 12.72, as Bermuda Pacers athletes occupied the top four spots. Telilah Wears was second in 12.77 and Zye Simmons third in 13.16.

Taylor Hines took the 14-and-under girls 200 with a winning time of 27.05, while Makayla Tucker was second in 27.76 and Nhoaa Powell, also of Pacers, was third in 28.65. Hines also won the 400 in 1:03.02, with Tucker second in 1:06.40.

Seer Carey won the boys under-10 200 and 400, while Selah Tuzo won the under-14 800 in 2:49.93 and the 1,500 in 5:25.37. Ashley Irby, of MAAC Juniors, took the under-17 800 title when she ran a 2:12.07, with Mikaela Outerbridge second in 2:33.61 and her Pacers team-mate, Ali Boylan, was third in 2:33.82 in a close finish for second spot.

Ryan Outerbridge won both the under-14s 800 and 1,500 in times of 2:19.30 and 4:43.28 respectively, while Jade Johnston was the winner of the under-12s 1,500 in 5:40.72 and Messiah Greaves the under-17 1,500 champion after clocking a time of 5:25.00. Quincy Kuzyk took the under-17 boys 1,500 in 4:33:00.

• A full list of results can be found by clicking on the PDF link under “Related Media”