Cawmere were certainly Up and On! Defending champions of the
Dasani-Powerade Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championships (BSSAC), Combermere School, swept the Brydens Stokes Esther Maynard and Shane Brathwaite Zone, winning both the girls’ (418 points) and boys’ (359 points) titles to savour a well-deserved double dose performance yesterday. After taking command of the standings on day one of the competition on Thursday, Combermere, in their traditional blue and yellow uniforms, ‘shell down’ the Usain Bolt Sports Complex yesterday as they prepared to defend their reign as
BSSAC champions next week in the finals. An extremely competitive zone, the beating of drums and chanting added to the excitement as dark horses Alleyne School finished second with 321.50 points in the girls’ race, while Christ Church Foundation School (CCFS) Beacons ended third with 313.50 points.
Springer Memorial (304.50) and St George Secondary (145.50) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
CCFS put their best on display to rival Combermere but fell just short as runners-up with 322 points. St Leonard’s Boys’ secured a top-three finish, scoring 282.50 points, while Alleyne School (265) and Lester Vaughan School (168) rounded out the top-five positions for the males.
From juniors to seniors, the athletes and their supporters were all heavily invested, with their banter and school pride on full display on a day when records were broken.
CARIFTA bronze medallist Teon Haynes of Combermere School boasts of a new
BSSAC record in the Under-20 Boys’ long jump. In what is perhaps his final year at school, the 19-year-old Haynes went airborne and landed at 7.47m with a 0.5 wind gauge to win the event, eclipsing the 2011 record of 7.32 metres once held by Charles Greaves of Ellerslie, as well as the 2018 zonal record
of 7.03m belonging to Lee-Andre Walker of Alleyne.
It was also action-packed on the Ryan Brathwaite Track. Sprinting out of the blocks in heat two of the Under-20 Girls’ 200-metre timed final, CARIFTA qualifier Aniya Nurse of Alleyne School continued to show her class, slamming the field for a new zonal record of 23.84 seconds, completely erasing the previous time of 23.97 seconds set by Olympian Sada Williams in 2016.
Talk about speed, Jayden Green of CCFS certainly has it. He set a new zonal record of 21.20 seconds in section two of the Under-20 Boys’ 200 metres, trailed by fellow CARIFTA athlete Tarell Johnson-Rouse of St George Secondary (21.94 seconds) in the same heat.
Combermere dominated the field, capturing both the Under-17 Girls’ and Boys’ 200-metre sprint through phenomenal runs by Dahrion Belgrave (22.48 seconds) and Krystal Bentham (24.99 seconds).
Bragging rights were also at stake in the junior sprints. Promising athlete Rejada Hinds of Alleyne clocked the fastest qualifying time in the Under-15 Girls’ 100m, equalling Keshawna Niles’ zonal record of 12.36 seconds. (ML)
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