Cream of the crop

The St. Michael School repeated as the two-time defending queens, while Harrison College after nine years resurfaced as kings when the Powerade-sponsored Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championship final concluded at the National Stadium today.

Champions of the Sol Frank Blackman Zone St Michael School girls went on to claim the overall title today with a massive 345 points. Christ Church Foundation School tallied 314 points for the second position, and former perennial champions Springer Memorial scored 242 for third place. Queen’s College were fourth with 174.50 points while Combermere School on 150 points came fifth.

It was a close race for the boy’s championship but in the end, Harrison College, titleholder’s of the Sol Esther Maynard Zone, held a firm grip with a score of 254 points to lift the overall males’ title. Foundation placed second with 249 points and St Michael School on 190.50 were third. Fourth place went to Combermere School on189 points and Queen’s College’s 169 points were fifth.

Despite intermittent rain, the athletes including Under-17 Boys champions and victor ludorum Aren Spencer of Harrison College (34 points), and joint victrix ludorum and Under-15 champion Samiya Dell of St Michael School and Brieanna Boyce of Alleyne School (33 points) were outstanding.

One of the best highlights on track today came from CARIFTA qualifier Julian Forde of Harrison College.

The 17-year-old established himself as the fastest schoolboy in Barbados having completed the sprint double by winning the 100m (10:47) yesterday and returned today to clock 21.28 seconds in the 200m in the presence of a packed National Stadium.

Ashlee Lowe of St Michael School (24.47) remained consistent as she once again dismissed her rival Hannah Connell of Foundation (24.77) in the Under-20 Girls 200m.

Kristel Martindale of Queen’s College with speed and determination crossed the finish line first in 25.09 seconds to pull off an upset competing in the Under-17 Girls 200m against Ricklya Fagan of Deighton Griffith who ran 25.22 seconds for second place.

Jamarco Gill of St. George Secondary was outstanding to capture the Under-17 Boys 200m in 22.83 seconds.

Joint victrix ludorum Brieanna Boyce of the Alleyne School fought well with 50m to go and managed to produce a personal best time of 59.89 seconds in the Under-15 age group. The Under-15 Boys 400m champion was Josiah Parris of St Michael School in 52.10 seconds.

The 400m for Under-13 Girls went to Tonika Griffith of Foundation (62.68) and Shamari Addison of Queen’s College (61:18) in the boys.

Rasheem Griffith of Harrison College defended his title as the fastest schoolboy over the 400m hurdles (51.39) as he staved off competition from Delano Wickham of Foundation (51.74) for the second position while Kyle Gale of St Michael School (52.44) was third.

The boys of Harrison College performed well and picked up another gold, this time in the Under-17 males 400m hurdles compliments victor ludorum Aren Spencer. Spencer slipped and fell during the race but recovered in time to win in 56.51 seconds. He was also victorious in the triple jump (13.79m) for Under-17 Boys.

The Under-20 Girls 400m hurdles went down to the wire between gold medallist Rhea Hoyte of St Michael School (62.07) who came from behind to pip Shonita Brome of Alexandra School (62.17) on the finish line.

Anika Blackman of Princess Margaret won the Under-17 Girls 100m hurdles yesterday but was unable to complete the double today running the 300m hurdles. She placed second in 45.18 behind a superb run of 45.07 seconds by Tionce Waldron of Springer Memorial.

Running the junior girls 75m hurdles, Maliah Edwards of Springer Memorial (11.73) won gold while top honours in the junior boys 100m went to Rodnico Carrington of Foundation (15.23).

In the 100m for Under-15s, Keshawna Niles of Deighton Griffith slammed all competitors in 12.58 seconds in the girls while Jeremy Small of Harrison College (Under-15) registered 11.46 seconds for the win among the girls.

Alika Harewood of Foundation (13.47) raced away with glory in the Under-13 females 100m. The Under-13 Boys 100m was competitive but crossing the finish line in the first position was Rico Alleyne of the Lester Vaughan School (12.67) while Foundation duo of Jayden Green (12.82) and Kevion Newton (12.85) was second and third respectively.

Running the 800m for Under-20 males, Nathan Goddard-McCarthy of Combermere School was unable to accomplish a second gold medal after he had won the 1500m yesterday but produced a silver medal time of 1:56.52 behind 1:54.92 by gold medallist Paul Lorde of The Lodge School.

The Under-20 Girls 800m went down to the wire between gold medallist Asia Foster of St Michael (2:21.57) and Chloe Lucas of Foundation (2:21.70).

Daesha Brathwaite of Foundation was a clear winner (2:26.22) in the Under-17 Girls 800m while Savion Hoyte coming off of winning the 1500m yesterday captured gold (2:00.38) in Under-17 Boys 800m.

In the junior girls 1500m, Layla Haynes of Harrison College (5:10.06) comfortably won while Kamili Brathwaite of The Lodge School (4:55.36) snatched victory from Khalid Padmore of Alleyne School (4:56.23).

Haile Emmanuel-Turney of the Lester Vaughan School won the boys open pentathlon with 3261 points. Anika Blackman of Princess Margaret captured 2863 points for the girls’ pentathlon.

It was a close battle in the boys 5000m open won by Micah Stuart of Princess Margaret (17:53.14), Daemon Dawson of Harrison College (17:53.60) and Kiserian Adams of Combermere (17:54.27).

In the relays, Foundation (3:15.52) and St Michael School (3:46.40) captured the boys 4x400m. The Under-15s 4x100m relay went to St Michael School with a record-breaking run of 49.49 seconds in the girls and the Alleyne School (46:12) claimed the boys. The 4x100m relay for Under-13s went to Combermere School (53:88) for the females and Queen’s College (51:83) for the boys.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb